RTT-Based Positioning Using CLI Measurements

Abstract

An apparatus, comprising: an interface; a memory; and a processor communicatively coupled to the interface and the memory and configured to: instruct a node, which is a cellular communication node, to send a first cellular reference signal to a target UE (User Equipment) and another UE; instruct, via the interface, the target UE to report a first time difference, which is a first amount of time between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting a second cellular reference signal; and instruct, via the interface, the other UE to report a second time difference, which is a second amount of time between the other UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the other UE receiving the second cellular reference signal in a cross-link interference resource.

Description

[0001] Background

[0002] Wireless communication systems have evolved through several generations, including first-generation analog wireless telephone services (1G), second-generation (2G) digital wireless telephone services (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third-generation (3G) high-speed data wireless services with Internet capabilities, fourth-generation (4G) services (e.g., Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax), fifth-generation (5G) services, and so on. There are many different types of wireless communication systems currently in use, including cellular and personal communication service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), GSM TDMA variants, and the like.

[0003] The fifth-generation (5G) mobile standard requires higher data transfer speeds, a larger number of connections, better coverage, and other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to each of thousands of users, and a data rate of 1 gigabit per second to dozens of employees on an office floor. It should support hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections to support large-scale sensor deployments. Therefore, compared to the current 4G standard, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communication should be significantly improved. In addition, compared to the current standard, the signaling efficiency should be improved and the latency should be greatly reduced.

[0004] Obtaining the location of a mobile device accessing a wireless network can be useful for many applications, including, for example, emergency calls, personal navigation, asset tracking, locating friends or family members, and so on. Existing location methods include methods based on measuring radio signals transmitted from various devices or entities, including satellite vehicles (SVs) and terrestrial radio sources in a wireless network, such as base stations and access points. It is expected that the standardization for 5G wireless networks will include support for various location methods, which can utilize reference signals transmitted by base stations for location determination in a manner similar to how LTE wireless networks currently utilize positioning reference signals (PRSs) and / or cell-specific reference signals (CRSs).

[0005] Overview

[0006] An example apparatus includes: an interface; a memory; and a processor communicatively coupled to the interface and the memory and configured to: instruct a node, which is a cellular communication node, to send a first cellular reference signal to a target UE (user equipment) and another UE; instruct the target UE via the interface to report a first time difference, which is a first amount of time between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting a second cellular reference signal; and instruct the other UE via the interface to report a second time difference, which is a second amount of time between the other UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the other UE receiving the second cellular reference signal in a cross-link interference resource.

[0007] Implementations of such apparatus may include one or more of the following features. To instruct the other UE to report the second time difference, the processor is configured to instruct the node to send a cross-link interference resource configuration including an instruction for reporting the second time difference to the other UE. To instruct the target UE to report the first time difference, the processor is configured to instruct the node to send the cross-link interference resource configuration to the target UE. To instruct the target UE to report the first time difference, the processor is configured to instruct the node to send a reporting instruction to the target UE for the target UE to report the first time difference. The reporting instruction is part of at least one of: a downlink control information (DCI) signal, a media access control - control element (MAC-CE) signal, or a radio resource control (RRC) signal.

[0008] Additionally or alternatively, implementations of such apparatus may include one or more of the following features. The first cellular reference signal includes one of a downlink reference signal (DL-RS) or a sidelink reference signal (SL-RS). The processor is configured to instruct the target UE to send the second cellular reference signal that overlaps in time with the first cellular reference signal using the interface. The apparatus includes a node. The processor is configured to: send the first cellular reference signal via the interface; receive the second cellular reference signal via the interface; determine a first distance between the node and the target UE based on a transmission time of the first cellular reference signal from the node, a first reception time of the second cellular reference signal at the node, and the first time difference; determine a second distance between the node and the other UE; determine a third distance between the other UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the other UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; and determine a first position of the target UE based on the third distance between the other UE and the target UE and a second position of the other UE.

[0009] Another example device includes: means for a node to send a first cellular reference signal to a target UE (User Equipment) and another UE, the node being a cellular communication node; means for instructing the target UE to report a first time difference to the node, the first time difference being a first amount of time between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting a second cellular reference signal; and means for instructing the other UE to report a second time difference, the second time difference being a second amount of time between the other UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the other UE receiving the second cellular reference signal in a cross-link interference resource.

[0010] Implementations of such a device may include one or more of the following features. The means for instructing the other UE to report the second time difference includes means for instructing the node to send a cross-link interference resource configuration to the other UE that includes an instruction for reporting the second time difference. The means for instructing the target UE to report the first time difference includes means for instructing the node to send the cross-link interference resource configuration to the target UE. The means for instructing the target UE to report the first time difference includes means for instructing the node to send a reporting instruction to the target UE so that the target UE reports the first time difference. The reporting instruction is part of at least one of the following: a Downlink Control Information (DCI) signal, a Medium Access Control - Control Element (MAC-CE) signal, or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signal.

[0011] Additionally or alternatively, implementations of such a device may include one or more of the following features. The first cellular reference signal includes one of a Downlink Reference Signal (DL-RS) or a Sidelink Reference Signal (SL-RS). The device includes means for instructing the target UE to transmit the second cellular reference signal that overlaps in time with the first cellular reference signal. The device includes a node. The device includes: means for transmitting the first cellular reference signal; means for receiving the second cellular reference signal; means for determining a first distance between the node and the target UE based on the transmission time of the first cellular reference signal from the node, the first reception time of the second cellular reference signal at the node, and the first time difference; means for determining a second distance between the node and the other UE; means for determining a third distance between the other UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the other UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; and means for determining a first position of the target UE based on the third distance between the other UE and the target UE and a second position of the other UE.

[0012] An example method for facilitating location information determination includes: instructing a node, which is a cellular communication node, to send a first cellular reference signal to a target UE (User Equipment) and another UE; instructing the target UE to report a first time difference, which is a first time amount between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting a second cellular reference signal; and instructing the other UE to report a second time difference, which is a second time amount between the other UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the other UE receiving the second cellular reference signal in a cross-link interference resource.

[0013] Implementations of such methods may include one or more of the following features. Instructing the other UE to report the second time difference includes instructing the node to send a cross-link interference resource configuration to the other UE that includes an instruction for reporting the second time difference. Instructing the target UE to report the first time difference includes instructing the node to send the cross-link interference resource configuration to the target UE. Instructing the target UE to report the first time difference includes instructing the node to send a reporting instruction to the target UE so that the target UE reports the first time difference. The reporting instruction is part of at least one of the following: a downlink control information (DCI) signal, a media access control - control element (MAC-CE) signal, or a radio resource control (RRC) signal.

[0014] Additionally or alternatively, implementations of such methods may include one or more of the following features. The first cellular reference signal includes one of a downlink reference signal (DL-RS) or a sidelink reference signal (SL-RS). The method includes instructing the target UE to send the second cellular reference signal that overlaps in time with the first cellular reference signal. The method includes: determining a first distance between the node and the target UE based on the transmission time of the first cellular reference signal from the node, the first reception time of the second cellular reference signal at the node, and the first time difference; determining a second distance between the node and the other UE; determining a third distance between the other UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the other UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; and determining a first location of the target UE based on the third distance between the other UE and the target UE and a second location of the other UE.

[0015] An example non-transitory processor-readable storage medium including processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor to perform the following operations to facilitate location information determination: instruct a node, which is a cellular communication node, to send a first cellular reference signal to a target UE (user equipment) and another UE; instruct the target UE to report a first time difference, which is a first time amount between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting a second cellular reference signal; and instruct the other UE to report a second time difference, which is a second time amount between the other UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the other UE receiving the second cellular reference signal in a cross-link interference resource.

[0016] Implementations of such storage media may include one or more of the following features. The instruction configured to cause the processor to instruct the other UE to report the second time difference includes an instruction configured to cause the processor to instruct the node to send a cross-link interference resource configuration including instructions for reporting the second time difference to the other UE. The instruction configured to cause the processor to instruct the target UE to report the first time difference includes an instruction configured to cause the processor to instruct the node to send the cross-link interference resource configuration to the target UE. The instruction configured to cause the processor to instruct the target UE to report the first time difference includes an instruction configured to cause the processor to instruct the node to send a reporting instruction to the target UE for the target UE to report the first time difference. The reporting instruction is part of at least one of the following: a downlink control information (DCI) signal, a media access control - control element (MAC-CE) signal, or a radio resource control (RRC) signal.

[0017] Additionally or alternatively, implementations of such storage media may include one or more of the following features. The first cellular reference signal includes one of a downlink reference signal (DL-RS) or a sidelink reference signal (SL-RS). The storage medium includes an instruction configured to cause the processor to instruct the target UE to send the second cellular reference signal overlapping in time with the first cellular reference signal. The storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: determine a first distance between the node and the target UE based on a transmission time of the first cellular reference signal from the node, a first reception time of the second cellular reference signal at the node, and the first time difference; determine a second distance between the node and the other UE; determine a third distance between the other UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the other UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; and determine a first location of the target UE based on the third distance between the other UE and the target UE and a second location of the other UE.

[0018] An example target UE includes: an interface; a memory; and a processor communicatively coupled to the interface and the memory and configured to: receive a first cellular reference signal from a node via the interface; transmit a second cellular reference signal in a cross-link interference resource via the interface; determine a first time difference, which is a first time amount between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting the second cellular reference signal; receive a second time difference via the interface, which is a second time amount between another UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the another UE receiving the second cellular reference signal; and determine a first distance between the target UE and the another UE based on the first time difference and the second time difference.

[0019] Implementations of such target UEs may include one or more of the following features. The processor is configured to: receive a third time difference via the interface, which is a third time amount between the node transmitting the first cellular reference signal and the node receiving the second cellular reference signal; determine a first distance between the node and the target UE based on the first time difference and the third time difference; obtain a second distance between the node and the another UE; determine a third distance between the another UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the another UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; and determine a first position of the target UE based on the third distance between the another UE and the target UE and a second position of the another UE. The processor is configured to determine the second distance based on the second position of the another UE. The second cellular reference signal includes a sidelink reference signal (SL-RS).

[0020] Another example target UE includes: means for receiving a first cellular reference signal from a node; means for transmitting a second cellular reference signal in a cross-link interference resource; means for determining a first time difference, which is a first time amount between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting the second cellular reference signal; means for receiving a second time difference, which is a second time amount between another UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the another UE receiving the second cellular reference signal; and means for determining a first distance between the target UE and the another UE based on the first time difference and the second time difference.

[0021] The implementation of such a target UE may include one or more of the following features. The target UE includes means for receiving a third time difference, which is a third time amount between the node transmitting the first cellular reference signal and the node receiving the second cellular reference signal; means for determining a first distance between the node and the target UE based on the first time difference and the third time difference; means for obtaining a second distance between the node and the other UE; means for determining a third distance between the other UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the other UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; and means for determining a first position of the target UE based on the third distance between the other UE and the target UE and the second position of the other UE. The target UE includes means for determining the second distance based on the second position of the other UE. The second cellular reference signal includes a sidelink reference signal (SL-RS).

[0022] An example method for facilitating the determination of the location of a target UE includes: receiving, at the target UE, a first cellular reference signal from a node; transmitting, in cross-link interference resources, a second cellular reference signal from the target UE; determining, at the target UE, a first time difference, which is a first time amount between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting the second cellular reference signal; receiving, at the target UE, a second time difference, which is a second time amount between the other UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the other UE receiving the second cellular reference signal; and determining, at the target UE, a first distance between the target UE and the other UE based on the first time difference and the second time difference.

[0023] Implementations of such methods may include one or more of the following features. The method includes: receiving, at the target UE, a third time difference, the third time difference being a third amount of time between the node transmitting the first cellular reference signal and the node receiving the second cellular reference signal; determining, at the target UE, a first distance between the node and the target UE based on the first time difference and the third time difference; obtaining, at the target UE, a second distance between the node and the other UE; determining, at the target UE, a third distance between the other UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the other UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; and determining, at the target UE, a first position of the target UE based on the third distance between the other UE and the target UE and a second position of the other UE. The method includes: determining, at the target UE, the second distance based on the second position of the other UE. The second cellular reference signal includes a sidelink reference signal (SL-RS).

[0024] An example non-transitory processor-readable storage medium including processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor of a target UE to perform the following operations to facilitate determining a location of the target UE: receive a first cellular reference signal from a node; transmit a second cellular reference signal in a cross-link interference resource; determine a first time difference, the first time difference being a first amount of time between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting the second cellular reference signal; receive a second time difference, the second time difference being a second amount of time between another UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the other UE receiving the second cellular reference signal; and determine a first distance between the target UE and the other UE based on the first time difference and the second time difference.

[0025] Implementations of such storage media may include one or more of the following features. The instructions include instructions for being configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: receiving a third time difference, which is a third amount of time between the node transmitting the first cellular reference signal and the node receiving the second cellular reference signal; determining a first distance between the node and the target UE based on the first time difference and the third time difference; obtaining a second distance between the node and the other UE; determining a third distance between the other UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the other UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; and determining a first position of the target UE based on the third distance between the other UE and the target UE and a second position of the other UE. The instructions include instructions for being configured to cause the processor to perform the following operation: determining the second distance based on the second position of the other UE. The second cellular reference signal includes a sidelink reference signal (SL-RS). Brief Description of the Drawings

[0027] Figure 1 is a simplified diagram of an example wireless communication system.

[0028] Figure 2 is Figure 1 a block diagram of components of the example user equipment shown in.

[0029] Figure 3 is Figure 1 a block diagram of components of the example transmitter / shown in.

[0030] Figure 4 is Figure 1 a block diagram of components of the example server shown in.

[0031] Figure 5 is a wireless communication system for multi-RTT based positioning determination.

[0032] Figure 6 is a timing diagram of RTT signal exchange.

[0033] Figure 7 is a timing diagram showing possible cross-link interference.

[0034] Figure 8 is Figure 2 a simplified block diagram of an example of the user equipment shown in.

[0035] Figure 9 is a simplified block diagram of an example of a node.

[0036] Figure 10 is a simplified example process and signal flow for determining positioning information.

[0037] Figure 11 It is a simplified example process and signal flow for determining location information.

[0038] Figure 12 It is a flowchart of a method that facilitates the determination of location information.

[0039] Figure 13 It is a flowchart of a method that facilitates the determination of the location of a target UE.

[0040] Detailed description

[0041] This document discusses round-trip time location techniques based on cross-link interference (CLI) measurements. CLI resource configuration can be provided to a receiving user equipment (UE) that is scheduled to receive an uplink signal from a target UE (whose location is to be determined) simultaneously with a downlink signal from a node, where the receiving UE thus becomes the receiver of interference from the target UE. The CLI resource configuration can be configured such that the receiving UE reports the time difference between receiving a reference signal from the node and receiving the uplink signal from the target UE. CLI resource configuration and / or other signaling can also be provided to the target UE such that the target UE will report the time difference between receiving the reference signal from the node and transmitting the uplink signal from the target UE. These time differences and other information (e.g., the distance from the node to the target UE, the distance from the node to the receiving UE) can be used to determine the distance between the target UE and the receiving UE. The distance between the target UE and the receiving UE can be used to determine the location of the target UE. However, other examples can be implemented.

[0042] The items and / or techniques described in this document can provide one or more of the following capabilities and other capabilities not mentioned. Signals that cause cross-link interference at the receiving UE can be used to help determine the location of the target UE that transmitted the signal, even if the interference is non-reciprocal between the target UE and the receiving UE. Other capabilities can be provided, and not every implementation according to the present disclosure must provide any of the capabilities discussed, let alone all of them.

[0043] The description may cite a sequence of actions to be performed by elements such as a computing device. The various actions described herein can be performed by a dedicated circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. The sequence of actions described herein can be implemented within a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores thereon a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, will cause the associated processor to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects described herein can be implemented in several different forms, all of which fall within the scope of the present disclosure, including the claimed subject matter.

[0044] As used herein, the terms “user equipment” (UE) and “base station” are not dedicated to or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT) unless otherwise specified. In general, such a UE can be any wireless communication device used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, tracking device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.). The UE can be mobile or can be stationary (e.g., at certain times), and can communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term “UE” can be interchangeably referred to as “access terminal” or “AT”, “client device”, “wireless device”, “subscriber device”, “subscriber terminal”, “subscriber station”, “user terminal” or “UT”, “mobile terminal”, “mobile station”, or variants thereof. In general, a UE can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE can be connected to an external network (such as the Internet) and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for the UE, such as via a wired access network, a WiFi network (e.g., based on IEEE 802.11, etc.).

[0045] A base station can operate according to one of several RATs when communicating with a UE depending on the network in which the base station is deployed, and can alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), network node, B node, evolved B node (eNB), general B node (gNodeB, gNB), etc. Additionally, in some systems, a base station can provide a pure edge node signaling function, while in other systems, a base station can provide additional control and / or network management functions.

[0046] A UE can be implemented by any of several types of devices, including but not limited to a printed circuit (PC) card, a compact flash device, an external or internal modem, a wireless or wired telephone, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a tracking device, an asset tag, etc. The communication link by which a UE can send a signal to a RAN is referred to as an uplink channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). The communication link by which a RAN can send a signal to a UE is referred to as a downlink or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0047] As used herein, depending on the context, the term "cell" or "sector" may correspond to one of multiple cells of a base station or to the base station itself. The term "cell" may refer to a logical communication entity for communicating with a base station (e.g., on a carrier), and may be associated with an identifier to distinguish adjacent cells operating via the same or different carriers (e.g., Physical Cell Identifier (PCID), Virtual Cell Identifier (VCID)). In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells and may be configured with different cells according to different protocol types that may provide access for different types of devices (e.g., Machine Type Communication (MTC), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), or other protocol types). In some examples, the term "cell" may refer to a portion of a geographic coverage area over which a logical entity operates (e.g., a sector).

[0048] Reference Figure 1 , examples of the communication system 100 include UE 105, UE 106, a Radio Access Network (RAN) 135 (here a Fifth Generation (5G) Next Generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN)), and a 5G Core Network (5GC) 140. UE 105 and / or UE 106 may be, for example, IoT devices, location tracker devices, cellular phones, vehicles, or other devices. The 5G network may also be referred to as a New Radio (NR) network; the NG-RAN 135 may be referred to as a 5G RAN or NR RAN; and the 5GC 140 may be referred to as an NG Core Network (NGC). The standardization of the NG-RAN and 5GC is being carried out in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Accordingly, the NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140 may follow current or future standards from 3GPP for 5G support. The RAN 135 may be another type of RAN, e.g., a 3G RAN, a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) RAN, etc. UE 106 may be similarly configured and coupled to UE 105 to send and / or receive signals to / from similar other entities in the system 100, but for simplicity of the figures, in Figure 1Such signaling is not indicated therein. Similarly, for simplicity, the discussion focuses on UE 105. The communication system 100 may utilize information from a constellation 185 of space vehicles (SVs) 190, 191, 192, 193 of a satellite positioning system (SPS) (e.g., a global navigation satellite system (GNSS)), such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Galileo, or Beidou or some other local or regional SPS (such as the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), or the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)). Additional components of the communication system 100 are described below. The communication system 100 may include additional or alternative components.

[0049] As Figure 1 shown in, the NG-RAN 135 includes NR B nodes (gNBs) 110a, 110b and next-generation evolved B nodes (ng-eNBs) 114, and the 5GC 140 includes an access and mobility management function (AMF) 115, a session management function (SMF) 117, a location management function (LMF) 120, and a gateway mobile location center (GMLC) 125. The gNBs 110a, 110b and the ng-eNB 114 are communicatively coupled to each other, each configured to perform two-way wireless communication with the UE 105, and each communicatively coupled to the AMF 115 and configured to perform two-way communication with the AMF 115. The gNBs 110a, 110b and the ng-eNB 114 may be referred to as base stations (BSs). The AMF 115, the SMF 117, the LMF 120 and the GMLC 125 are communicatively coupled to each other, and the GMLC is communicatively coupled to an external client 130. The SMF 117 may serve as an initial contact point for a service control function (SCF) (not shown) to create, control, and delete media sessions. The BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may be macro cells (e.g., high-power cellular base stations), or small cells (e.g., low-power cellular base stations), or access points (e.g., short-range base stations, which are configured to communicate using short-range technologies such as WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), - Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, etc.). One or more of the BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may be configured to communicate with the UE 105 via multiple carriers. Each of the BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographical area (e.g., a cell). Each cell may be divided into multiple sectors according to the base station antenna.

[0050] Figure 1A general description of each component is provided, any or all of which can be appropriately utilized, and each component can be repeated or omitted as needed. Specifically, although only one UE 105 is described, many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) can be utilized in the communication system 100. Similarly, the communication system 100 can include a greater (or smaller) number of SVs (i.e., more or fewer than the four SVs 190 - 193 shown), gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, external client 130, and / or other components. The illustrated connections that connect the various components in the communication system 100 include data and signaling connections, which can include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. Additionally, the components can be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted depending on the desired functionality.

[0051] Although Figure 1 a 5G-based network is described, similar network implementations and configurations can be used for other communication technologies, such as 3G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), etc. The implementations described herein (which are for 5G technology and / or for one or more other communication technologies and / or protocols) can be used to transmit (or broadcast) directional synchronization signals, receive and measure directional signals at a UE (e.g., UE 105), and / or provide location assistance to the UE 105 (via the GMLC 125 or other location server), and / or calculate the location of the UE 105 at a location-capable device (such as UE 105, gNB 110a, 110b, or LMF 120) based on the measurement parameters of the signals received at the UE 105 for such directional transmissions. The Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 125, Location Management Function (LMF) 120, Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 115, SMF 117, ng-eNB (evolved Node B) 114, and gNB (g Node B) 110a, 110b are examples, and in various embodiments can be replaced or include respectively various other location server functionality and / or base station functionality.

[0052] System 100 is capable of wireless communication because the components of System 100 can communicate with each other directly or indirectly (at least sometimes using a wireless connection) via, for example, BS 110a, 110b, 114, and / or Network 140 (and / or one or more other devices not shown, such as one or more other base transceiver stations). For indirect communication, during transmission from one entity to another, the communication may be altered, such as altering the header information of a data packet, changing the format, etc. UE 105 may include multiple UEs and may be a mobile wireless communication device, but may communicate wirelessly and via a wired connection. UE 105 may be any of various devices, for example, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a vehicle-based device, etc., but these are merely examples as UE 105 need not be any of these configurations and other configurations of the UE may be used. Other UEs may include wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart jewelry, smart glasses, or head-mounted devices, etc.). Other UEs may also be used, whether currently existing or developed in the future. In addition, other wireless devices (whether mobile or not) may be implemented within System 100 and may communicate with each other and / or with UE 105, BS 110a, 110b, 114, Core Network 140, and / or External Client 130. For example, such other devices may include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, medical devices, home entertainment and / or automation devices, etc. Core Network 140 may communicate with External Client 130 (e.g., a computer system), for example, to allow External Client 130 (e.g., via GMLC 125) to request and / or receive location information about UE 105.

[0053] UE 105 or other devices may be configured to communicate in various networks and / or for various purposes and / or using various technologies (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi communication, multi-frequency Wi-Fi communication, satellite positioning, one or more types of communication (e.g., GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution), V2X (e.g., V2P (Vehicle-to-Pedestrian), V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure), V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle), etc.), IEEE 802.11p, etc.). V2X communication can be cellular (Cellular-V2X (C-V2X)) and / or Wi-Fi-based (e.g., DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications)). System 100 may support operation on multiple carriers (waveform signals of different frequencies). A multi-carrier transmitter may simultaneously transmit modulated signals on multiple carriers. Each modulated signal may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) signal, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) signal, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) signal, a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) signal, etc. Each modulated signal may be transmitted on a different carrier and may carry pilots, overhead information, data, etc. UEs 105, 106 may communicate with each other via UE-to-UE sidelink (SL) communication by transmitting on one or more sidelink channels such as the Physical Sidelink Synchronization Channel (PSSCH), the Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH), or the Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH).

[0054] UE 105 may include and / or may be referred to as a device, a mobile device, a wireless device, a mobile terminal, a terminal, a mobile station (MS), a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL)-enabled terminal (SET), or some other name. Additionally, UE 105 may correspond to a cellular phone, a smart phone, a laptop device, a tablet device, a PDA, a tracking device, a navigation device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an asset tracker, a health monitor, a security system, a smart city sensor, a smart meter, a wearable tracker, or some other portable or movable device. Generally, although not necessarily, UE 105 may support the use of one or more Radio Access Technologies (RATs) such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE 802.11 WiFi (also known as Wi-Fi), (BT), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), 5G New Radio (NR) (e.g., using NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140), etc.) for wireless communication. UE 105 may support wireless communication using a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), which may be connected to other networks (e.g., the Internet) using, for example, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or Packet Cable. Using one or more of these RATs may allow UE 105 (e.g., via components of 5GC 140 ( Figure 1 not shown in the figure), or possibly via GMLC 125) to communicate with external client 130 and / or allow external client 130 (e.g., via GMLC 125) to receive location information about UE 105.

[0055] UE 105 may include a single entity or may include multiple entities, such as in a personal area network, where a user may employ audio, video, and / or data I / O (Input / Output) devices, and / or body sensors, as well as separate wired or wireless modems. The estimation of the location of UE 105 may be referred to as location, location estimation, location lock, lock, positioning, positioning estimation, or positioning lock, and may be geographical, thereby providing location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) of UE 105, which may or may not include an elevation component (e.g., height above sea level; height above or depth below a ground plane, floor plane, or basement plane). Alternatively, the location of UE 105 may be expressed as a civic location (e.g., expressed as a postal address or a designation of a point or smaller area within a building (such as a specific room or floor)). The location of UE 105 may be expressed as a region or volume (geographically or in civic form) within which UE 105 is expected to be located with a certain probability or confidence level (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). The location of UE 105 may be expressed as a relative location, which includes, for example, distance and direction from a known location. The relative location may be expressed as relative coordinates (e.g., X, Y (and Z) coordinates) defined relative to an origin at a known location, which may be defined, for example, geographically, in civic form, or with reference to a point, area, or volume indicated on a map, floor plan, or building plan. In the descriptions contained herein, the use of the term location may include any of these variants, unless otherwise indicated. When calculating the location of a UE, local x, y, and possibly z coordinates are typically solved for and then (if needed) converted to absolute coordinates (e.g., with respect to latitude, longitude, and elevation above or below mean sea level).

[0056] The UE 105 can be configured to communicate with other entities using one or more of various techniques. The UE 105 can be configured to indirectly connect to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. The D2D P2P links can use any suitable D2D radio access technology (RAT) (such as LTE direct (LTE-D), WiFi direct (WiFi-D), etc.) to support. One or more UEs in a group of UEs using D2D communication can be within the geographical coverage area of a transmission / reception point (TRP) (such as one or more of gNB 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114). Other UEs in the group can be outside such geographical coverage area, or may be unable to receive transmissions from the base station for other reasons. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication can utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where each UE can transmit to other UEs in the group. The TRP can facilitate the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication can be performed between UEs without involving the TRP. One or more UEs in a group of UEs using D2D communication can be within the geographical coverage area of the TRP. Other UEs in the group can be outside such geographical coverage area, or may be unable to receive transmissions from the base station for other reasons. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication can utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where each UE can transmit to other UEs in the group. The TRP can facilitate the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication can be performed between UEs without involving the TRP.

[0057] Figure 1 The base stations (BSs) in the NG-RAN 135 shown in include NR B nodes (referred to as gNB 110a and 110b). Pairs of gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135 can be connected to each other via one or more other gNBs. Providing access to the 5G network to the UE 105 via wireless communication between the UE 105 and one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, the gNBs 110a, 110b can provide wireless communication access to the 5GC 140 on behalf of the UE 105 using 5G. In Figure 1 it is assumed that the serving gNB of the UE 105 is gNB 110a, although another gNB (e.g., gNB 110b) can act as the serving gNB if the UE 105 moves to another location, or can act as a secondary gNB to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to the UE 105.

[0058] Figure 1The base station (BS) in the NG-RAN 135 shown in [Figure 0] may include an ng-eNB 114 (also referred to as a next-generation evolved Node B). The ng-eNB 114 may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135 (possibly via one or more other gNBs and / or one or more other ng-eNBs). The ng-eNB 114 may provide LTE radio access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) radio access to the UE 105. One or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or the ng-eNB 114 may be configured to act as a positioning beacon only, which may transmit signals to assist in determining the location of the UE 105, but may not be able to receive signals from the UE 105 or other UEs.

[0059] Each of the BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may include one or more TRPs. For example, each sector within a cell of a BS may include a TRP, but multiple TRPs may share one or more components (e.g., share a processor but have separate antennas). The system 100 may include only macro TRPs, or the system 100 may have different types of TRPs, such as, for example, macro, pico, and / or femto TRPs, etc. A macro TRP may cover a relatively large geographical area (e.g., with a radius of several kilometers) and may allow unconstrained access by terminals with a service subscription. A pico TRP may cover a relatively small geographical area (e.g., a pico cell) and may allow unconstrained access by terminals with a service subscription. A femto or home TRP may cover a relatively small geographical area (e.g., a femto cell) and may allow constrained access by terminals associated with that femto cell (e.g., the terminals of users in a residence).

[0060] As mentioned, although Figure 1 nodes configured to communicate according to a 5G communication protocol are depicted, nodes configured to communicate according to other communication protocols (such as, for example, the LTE protocol or the IEEE 802.11x protocol) may also be used. For example, in an evolved packet system (EPS) that provides LTE radio access to the UE 105, the RAN may include an evolved universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), which may include a base station comprising evolved Node Bs (eNBs). The core network for the EPS may include an evolved packet core (EPC). The EPS may include E-UTRAN plus EPC, where E-UTRAN corresponds to Figure 1 the NG-RAN 135 in [Figure 0] and EPC corresponds to Figure 1 the 5GC 140 in [Figure 0].

[0061] gNBs 110a, 110b, and ng-eNB 114 can communicate with the AMF 115; for positioning functionality, the AMF 115 communicates with the LMF 120. The AMF 115 can support the mobility of the UE 105 (including cell changes and handovers), and can participate in supporting the signaling connection to the UE 105 and potentially the data and voice bearers for the UE 105. The LMF 120 can communicate directly with the UE 105, for example, via wireless communication, or directly with the BSs 110a, 110b, 114. The LMF 120 can support the positioning of the UE 105 when the UE 105 accesses the NG-RAN 135, and can support various positioning procedures / methods, such as Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) (e.g., Downlink (DL) OTDOA or Uplink (UL) OTDOA), Real-Time Kinematics (RTK), Precise Point Positioning (PPP), Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Enhanced Cell ID (E-CID), Angle of Arrival (AOA), Angle of Departure (AOD), and / or other positioning methods. The LMF 120 can process, for example, the location service requests for the UE 105 received from the AMF 115 or the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 can be connected to the AMF 115 and / or the GMLC !25. The LMF 120 can be referred to by other names, such as Location Manager (LM), Location Function (LF), Commercial LMF (CLMF), or Value-Added LMF (VLMF). The node / system implementing the LMF 120 can additionally or alternatively implement other types of location support modules, such as Enhanced Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) or Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP). At least a portion of the positioning functionality (including the derivation of the location of the UE 105) can be performed at the UE 105 (e.g., using signal measurements of signals transmitted by wireless nodes (such as gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114) obtained by the UE 105, and / or auxiliary data provided to the UE 105 by the LMF 120, for example). The AMF 115 can serve as a control node for handling the signaling between the UE 105 and the core network 140, and provide Quality of Service (QoS) flow and session management. The AMF 115 can support the mobility of the UE 105 (including cell changes and handovers), and can participate in supporting the signaling connection to the UE 105.

[0062] It should be noted that there seems to be a typo in the original text where "GMLC !25" is written. It should probably be "GMLC 125". This has been corrected in the translation.The GMLC 125 can support a location request for the UE 105 received from an external client 130 and can forward the location request to the AMF 115 for forwarding by the AMF 115 to the LMF 120, or can forward the location request directly to the LMF 120. A location response from the LMF 120 (e.g., containing a location estimate of the UE 105) can be returned to the GMLC 125 directly or via the AMF 115, and the GMLC 125 can then return the location response (e.g., containing the location estimate) to the external client 130. The GMLC 125 is shown as being connected to both the AMF 115 and the LMF 120, but in some implementations the 5GC 140 may support only one of these connections.

[0063] As Figure 1 further explained, the LMF 120 can use the New Radio Positioning Protocol A (which may be referred to as NPPa or NRPPa) to communicate with the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or the ng-eNB 114, and the New Radio Positioning Protocol A can be defined in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. The NRPPa can be the same as, similar to, or an extension of the LTE Positioning Protocol A (LPPa) defined in 3GPP TS 36.455, where NRPPa messages are transferred between the gNB 110a (or gNB 110b) and the LMF 120, and / or between the ng-eNB 114 and the LMF 120 via the AMF 115. As Figure 1As further explained below, the LMF 120 and the UE 105 may communicate using the LTE positioning protocol (LPP), which may be defined in 3GPP TS 36.355. The LMF 120 and the UE 105 may alternatively or additionally communicate using a new radio positioning protocol (which may be referred to as NPP or NRPP), which may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of the LPP. Here, LPP and / or NPP messages may be passed between the UE 105 and the LMF 120 via the AMF 115 and the serving gNB 110a, 110b, or serving ng-eNB 114 of the UE 105. For example, LPP and / or NPP messages may be passed between the LMF 120 and the AMF 115 using the 5G location service application protocol (LCS AP), and may be passed between the AMF 115 and the UE 105 using the 5G non-access stratum (NAS) protocol. The LPP and / or NPP protocol may be used to support positioning the UE 105 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based positioning methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, OTDOA, and / or E-CID. The NRPPa protocol may be used to support positioning the UE 105 using network-based positioning methods such as E-CID (e.g., in conjunction with measurements obtained by the gNB110a, 110b, or ng-eNB 114) and / or may be used by the LMF 120 to obtain location-related information from the gNB 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114, such as parameters defining the directional SS transmissions from the gNB 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114. The LMF 120 may co-locate or integrate with a gNB or TRP, or may be arranged remote from the gNB and / or TRP and configured to communicate directly or indirectly with the gNB and / or TRP.

[0064] Using UE-assisted positioning methods, the UE 105 may obtain position measurements and send these measurements to a location server (e.g., the LMF 120) for calculating an estimated position of the UE 105. For example, the position measurements may include one or more of the following: received signal strength indication (RSSI), round-trip signal propagation time (RTT), reference signal time difference (RSTD), reference signal received power (RSRP), and / or reference signal received quality (RSRQ) of the gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, and / or WLAN AP. The position measurements may alternatively or additionally include measurements of GNSS pseudorange, code phase, and / or carrier phase of the SVs 190-193.

[0065] Using a UE-based positioning method, the UE 105 can obtain position measurements (e.g., which can be the same as or similar to the position measurements for UE-assisted positioning methods), and can calculate the position of the UE 105 (e.g., with the aid of assistance data received from a position server such as the LMF 120 or broadcast by the gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, or other base stations or APs).

[0066] Using a network-based positioning method, one or more base stations (e.g., gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114) or APs can obtain position measurements (e.g., measurements of RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, or time of arrival (ToA) of signals transmitted by the UE 105) and / or can receive measurements obtained by the UE 105. The one or more base stations or APs can send these measurements to a position server (e.g., the LMF 120) for calculating a position estimate of the UE 105.

[0067] Information provided by the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 to the LMF 120 using NRPPa can include timing and configuration information for beamformed SS transmission and position coordinates. The LMF 120 can provide some or all of this information to the UE 105 as assistance data in LPP and / or NPP messages via the NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140.

[0068] The LPP or NPP message sent from the LMF 120 to the UE 105 can instruct the UE 105 to perform any of a variety of things depending on the desired functionality. For example, the LPP or NPP message can contain instructions for the UE 105 to obtain measurements for GNSS (or A-GNSS), WLAN, E-CID, and / or OTDOA (or some other positioning method). In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message can instruct the UE 105 to obtain one or more measurement parameters (e.g., beam ID, beam width, average angle, RSRP, RSRQ measurements) of a beamformed signal transmitted within a specific cell supported by one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 (or supported by some other type of base station such as an eNB or WiFi AP). The UE 105 can send these measurement parameters back to the LMF 120 in an LPP or NPP message (e.g., within a 5G NAS message) via the serving gNB 110a (or serving ng-eNB 114) and the AMF 115.

[0069] As mentioned, although the communication system 100 has been described with respect to 5G technology, the communication system 100 can be implemented to support other communication technologies (such as GSM, WCDMA, LTE, etc.), which are used to support mobile devices (such as UE 105) and interact with them (e.g., to enable voice, data, positioning, and other functionality). In some such embodiments, the 5GC 140 can be configured to control different air interfaces. For example, the 5GC 140 can be connected to a WLAN using a non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF, Figure 1 not shown in) in the 5GC 150. For example, the WLAN can support IEEE 802.11 WiFi access for the UE 105 and can include one or more WiFi APs. Here, the N3IWF can be connected to the WLAN and other elements in the 5GC 140, such as the AMF 115. In some embodiments, both the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 can be replaced by one or more other RANs and one or more other core networks. For example, in EPS, the NG-RAN 135 can be replaced by an E-UTRAN including eNBs, and the 5GC 140 can be replaced by an EPC, which includes a mobility management entity (MME) replacing the AMF 115, an E-SMLC replacing the LMF 120, and a GMLC that can be similar to the GMLC 125. In such an EPS, the E-SMLC can use LPPa instead of NRPPa to send location information to the eNBs in the E-UTRAN and receive location information from these eNBs, and can use LPP to support the positioning of the UE 105. In these other embodiments, the positioning of the UE 105 using the directional PRS can be supported in a manner similar to that described herein for the 5G network, except that the functions and procedures described herein for the gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, and LMF 120 can alternatively be applied to other network elements in some cases, such as eNBs, WiFi APs, MMEs, and E-SMLCs.

[0070] As mentioned, in some embodiments, the positioning functionality can be implemented at least in part using directional SS beams transmitted by base stations (such as gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114) that are within the range of the UE (e.g., Figure 1 the UE 105) for which the positioning is to be determined. In some instances, the UE can use directional SS beams from multiple base stations (such as gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, etc.) to calculate its positioning.

[0071] Also refer to Figure 2, UE 200 is an example of one of UEs 105, 106, and includes a computing platform including a processor 210, a memory 211 including software (SW) 212, one or more sensors 213, a transceiver interface 214 for a transceiver 215, a user interface 216, a satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver 217, a camera 218, and a positioning device (PD) 219. The processor 210, the memory 211, the (s) sensors 213, the transceiver interface 214, the user interface 216, the SPS receiver 217, the camera 218, and the positioning device 219 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 220 (which may be configured for, e.g., optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., the camera 218, the positioning device 219, and / or one or more of the sensors 213, etc.) may be omitted from the UE 200. The processor 210 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.). The processor 210 may include multiple processors, which include a general-purpose / application processor 230, a digital signal processor (DSP) 231, a modem processor 232, a video processor 233, and / or a sensor processor 234. One or more of the processors 230-234 may include multiple devices (e.g., multiple processors). For example, the sensor processor 234 may include processors for, e.g., radar, ultrasonic, and / or lidar, etc. The modem processor 232 may support dual SIM / dual connectivity (or even more SIMs). For example, one SIM (subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module) may be used by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), and another SIM may be used by an end user of the UE 200 to obtain connectivity. The memory 211 is a non-transitory storage medium, which may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 211 stores software 212, which may be processor-readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that are configured to cause the processor 210 to perform the various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 212 may not be directly executable by the processor 210, but may be configured to (e.g., when compiled and executed) cause the processor 210 to perform the functions. This specification may only refer to the processor 210 performing functions, but this includes other implementations, such as implementations where the processor 210 executes software and / or firmware. This specification may refer to the processor 210 performing functions as a shorthand for one or more of the processors 230-234 performing the function. This specification may refer to the UE200 performing functions as a shorthand for one or more appropriate components of the UE 200 performing the function. The processor 210 may include a memory with stored instructions as a supplement to and / or alternative to the memory 211. The functionality of the processor 210 is discussed more fully below.

[0072] Figure 2 The configuration of the UE 200 shown is an example and not a limitation of the present invention (including the claims), and other configurations may be used. For example, example configurations of the UE include one or more of the processors 230 - 234 in the processor 210, the memory 211, and the wireless transceiver 240. Other example configurations include one or more of the processors 230 - 234 in the processor 210, the memory 211, the wireless transceiver 240, and one or more of the following: the sensor 213, the user interface 216, the SPS receiver 217, the camera 218, the PD 219, and / or the wired transceiver 250.

[0073] The UE 200 may include a modem processor 232, which may be capable of performing baseband processing on signals received and downconverted by the transceiver 215 and / or the SPS receiver 217. The modem processor 232 may perform baseband processing on signals to be upconverted for transmission by the transceiver 215. Additionally or alternatively, the baseband processing may be performed by the processor 230 and / or the DSP 231. However, other configurations may be used to perform the baseband processing.

[0074] The UE 200 may include the sensor(s) 213, which may include, for example, one or more of various types of sensors, such as one or more inertial sensors, one or more magnetometers, one or more environmental sensors, one or more optical sensors, one or more weight sensors, and / or one or more radio frequency (RF) sensors, etc. The inertial measurement unit (IMU) may include, for example, one or more accelerometers (e.g., collectively responsive to the acceleration of the UE 200 in three dimensions) and / or one or more gyroscopes (e.g., the three - dimensional gyroscope(s)). The sensor(s) 213 may include one or more 磁力计 (e.g., the three - dimensional 磁力计 ) to determine 取向 (e.g., relative to magnetic north and / or true north), and this orientation may be used for any of various purposes (e.g., to support one or more compass applications). The environmental sensor(s) may include, for example, one or more temperature sensors, one or more barometric pressure sensors, one or more ambient light sensors, one or more camera imagers, and / or one or more microphones, etc. The sensor(s) 213 may generate analog and / or digital signals, and indications of these signals may be stored in the memory 211 and processed by the DSP 231 and / or the processor 230 to support one or more applications (such as, by way of example, applications related to positioning and / or navigation operations).

[0075] The sensor(s) 213 may be used for relative position measurement, relative position determination, motion determination, and the like. The information detected by the sensor(s) 213 may be used for motion detection, relative displacement, dead reckoning, sensor-based position determination, and / or sensor-assisted position determination. The sensor(s) 213 may be used to determine whether the UE 200 is stationary (stationary) or mobile and / or whether to report certain useful information related to the mobility of the UE 200 to the LMF 120. For example, based on the information obtained / measured by the sensor(s), the UE 200 may notify / report to the LMF 120 that the UE 200 has detected movement or that the UE 200 has moved, and report the relative displacement / distance (e.g., via dead reckoning, sensor-based position determination, or sensor-assisted position determination implemented by the sensor(s) 213). In another example, for relative positioning information, the sensor / IMU may be used to determine the angle and / or orientation of another device relative to the UE 200.

[0076] The IMU can be configured to provide measurements of the direction and / or speed of motion of the UE 200, which can be used for relative position determination. For example, one or more accelerometers and / or one or more gyroscopes of the IMU can detect the linear acceleration and rotational speed of the UE 200, respectively. The linear acceleration measurements and rotational speed measurements of the UE 200 can be integrated over time to determine the instantaneous direction of motion and displacement of the UE 200. The instantaneous direction of motion and displacement can be integrated to track the position of the UE 200. For example, a reference position of the UE 200 at a certain moment can be determined, for example, using the SPS receiver 217 (and / or by some other means), and measurements obtained from the accelerometer(s) and gyroscope(s) after that moment can be used for dead reckoning to determine the current position of the UE 200 based on the movement (direction and distance) of the UE 200 relative to the reference position.

[0077] The magnetometer(s) can determine the magnetic field strength in different directions, which can be used to determine the orientation of the UE 200. For example, the orientation can be used to provide a digital compass for the UE 200. The magnetometer can be a two-dimensional magnetometer, which is configured to detect and provide an indication of the magnetic field strength in two orthogonal dimensions. Alternatively, the magnetometer can be a three-dimensional magnetometer, which is configured to detect and provide an indication of the magnetic field strength in three orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer can provide a means for sensing a magnetic field and providing an indication of the magnetic field, for example, to the processor 210.

[0078] The transceiver 215 may include a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250 configured to communicate with other devices via a wireless connection and a wired connection, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 240 may include a transmitter 242 and a receiver 244 coupled to one or more antennas 246 for transmitting and / or (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) receiving wireless signals 248 and converting the signals from the wireless signals 248 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to wireless signals 248. Thus, the transmitter 242 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 244 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 240 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with a TRP and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long-Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Zigbee, etc. The New Radio may use millimeter wave frequencies and / or sub-6 GHz frequencies. The wired transceiver 250 may include a transmitter 252 and a receiver 254 configured for wired communication (e.g., with network 135). The transmitter 252 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 254 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 250 may be configured for optical communication and / or electrical communication, for example. The transceiver 215 may be communicatively coupled to the transceiver interface 214 (e.g., via an optical connection and / or an electrical connection). The transceiver interface 214 may be at least partially integrated with the transceiver 215.

[0079] The user interface 216 may include one or more of several devices such as, by way of example, a speaker, a microphone, a display device, a vibration device, a keyboard, a touch screen, etc. The user interface 216 may include any combination of more than one of these devices. The user interface 216 may be configured to enable a user to interact with one or more applications hosted by the UE 200. For example, the user interface 216 may store an indication of an analog and / or digital signal in the memory 211 in response to an action from the user for processing by the DSP 231 and / or the general-purpose processor 230. Similarly, an application hosted on the UE 200 may store an indication of an analog and / or digital signal in the memory 211 to present an output signal to the user. The user interface 216 may include an audio input / output (I / O) device that includes, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a digital-to-analog circuitry, an analog-to-digital circuitry, an amplifier, and / or a gain control circuitry (any combination of more than one of these devices). Other configurations of the audio I / O device may be used. Additionally or alternatively, the user interface 216 may include one or more touch sensors that respond to touches and / or pressure on, for example, the keyboard and / or the touch screen of the user interface 216.

[0080] The SPS receiver 217 (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver) may be capable of receiving and acquiring SPS signals 260 via the SPS antenna 262. The antenna 262 is configured to convert the wireless signal 260 into a wired signal (e.g., an electrical signal or an optical signal) and may be integrated with the antenna 246. The SPS receiver 217 may be configured to fully or partially process the acquired SPS signals 260 to estimate the location of the UE 200. For example, the SPS receiver 217 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 by using trilateration with the SPS signals 260. The general-purpose processor 230, the memory 211, the DSP 231, and / or one or more dedicated processors (not shown) may be utilized in conjunction with the SPS receiver 217 to fully or partially process the acquired SPS signals and / or calculate the estimated location of the UE 200. The memory 211 may store an indication (e.g., a measurement) of the SPS signals 260 and / or other signals (e.g., signals acquired from the wireless transceiver 240) for use during a positioning operation. The general-purpose processor 230, the DSP 231, and / or one or more dedicated processors, and / or the memory 211 may provide or support a location engine for processing measurements to estimate the location of the UE 200.

[0081] The UE 200 may include a camera 218 for capturing still or moving images. The camera 218 may include, for example, an imaging sensor (e.g., a charge-coupled device or a CMOS imager), a lens, analog-to-digital circuitry, a frame buffer, etc. Additional processing, conditioning, encoding, and / or compression of the signals representative of the captured images may be performed by the general-purpose processor 230 and / or the DSP 231. Additionally or alternatively, the video processor 233 may perform conditioning, encoding, compression, and / or manipulation of the signals representative of the captured images. The video processor 233 may decode / decompress the stored image data for presentation on a display device (not shown), such as the user interface 216.

[0082] The positioning device (PD) 219 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200, the movement of the UE 200, and / or the relative location of the UE 200, and / or time. For example, the PD 219 may communicate with the SPS receiver 217 and / or include some or all of the SPS receiver 217. The PD 219 may operate in cooperation with the processor 210 and the memory 211 to perform at least a portion of one or more positioning methods, although the description herein may only refer to the PD 219 being configured to perform or performing according to a positioning method. The PD 219 may additionally or alternatively be configured to: perform trilateration using ground-based signals (e.g., at least some of the signals 248), assist in obtaining and using SPS signals 260, or both to determine the location of the UE 200. The PD 219 may be configured to: use one or more other techniques (e.g., relying on the self-reported location of the UE (e.g., as part of a positioning beacon of the UE)) to determine the location of the UE 200, and may use a combination of techniques (e.g., SPS and ground positioning signals) to determine the location of the UE 200. The PD 219 may include one or more sensors 213 (e.g., gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, etc.), which may sense the orientation and / or movement of the UE 200 and provide an indication of the orientation and / or movement, and the processor 210 (e.g., the processor 230 and / or the DSP 231) may be configured to use the indication to determine the movement of the UE 200 (e.g., a velocity vector and / or an acceleration vector). The PD 219 may be configured to provide an indication of the uncertainty and / or error of the determined location and / or movement.

[0083] Also refer to Figure 3, Examples of the TRP 300 of BS 110a, 110b, 114 include a computing platform including a processor 310, a memory 311 including software (SW) 312, and a transceiver 315. The processor 310, the memory 311, and the transceiver 315 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 320 (which may be configured for, e.g., optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., the wireless interface) may be omitted from the TRP 300. The processor 310 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.). The processor 310 may include multiple processors (e.g., including a general-purpose / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor as shown in Figure 2 ). The memory 311 is a non-transitory storage medium, which may include a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a disk memory, and / or a read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 311 stores software 312, which may be processor-readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that are configured to cause the processor 310 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 312 may not be directly executable by the processor 310, but may be configured to (e.g., when compiled and executed) cause the processor 310 to perform the functions. This description may only refer to the processor 310 performing the functions, but this includes other implementations, such as implementations where the processor 310 executes software and / or firmware. This specification may refer to the processor 310 performing the functions as a shorthand for one or more processors included in the processor 310 performing the functions. This description may refer to the TRP 300 performing the functions as a shorthand for one or more appropriate components of the TRP 300 (and thus one of BS 110a, 110b, 114) performing the functions. The processor 310 may include a memory with stored instructions as a supplement and / or alternative to the memory 311. The functionality of the processor 310 is discussed more fully below.

[0084] The transceiver 315 may include a wireless transceiver 340 and / or a wired transceiver 350 configured to communicate with other devices via a wireless connection and a wired connection, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 340 may include a transmitter 342 and a receiver 344 coupled to one or more antennas 346 for transmitting and / or (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more downlink channels) receiving wireless signals 348 and converting the signals from the wireless signals 348 into wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals into wireless signals 348. Accordingly, the transmitter 342 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 344 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 340 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Zigbee, etc.). The wired transceiver 350 may include a transmitter 352 and a receiver 354 configured to perform wired communication (e.g., with the network 135) to, for example, send communications to the LMF 120 and receive communications from the LMF 120. The transmitter 352 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 354 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 350 may be configured to perform, for example, optical communication and / or electrical communication.

[0085] Figure 3 The configuration of the TRP 300 shown is an example and does not limit the present invention (including the claims), and other configurations may be used. For example, the description herein discusses the TRP 300 being configured to perform several functions or the TRP 300 performing several functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by the LMF 120 and / or the UE 200 (i.e., the LMF 120 and / or the UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0086] Also refer to Figure 4, the server 400 (which is an example of the LMF 120) includes a computing platform including a processor 410, a memory 411 including software (SW) 412, and a transceiver 415. The processor 410, the memory 411, and the transceiver 415 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 420 (which may be configured for, e.g., optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., the wireless interface) may be omitted from the server 400. The processor 410 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.). The processor 410 may include multiple processors (e.g., including a general-purpose / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor as shown in Figure 2 ). The memory 411 is a non-transitory storage medium, which may include a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a disk memory, and / or a read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 411 stores software 412, which may be processor-readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that are configured to cause the processor 410 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 412 may not be directly executable by the processor 410, but may be configured to (e.g., when compiled and executed) cause the processor 410 to perform the functions. This description may only refer to the processor 410 performing the functions, but this includes other implementations, such as an implementation where the processor 410 executes software and / or firmware. This specification may refer to the processor 410 performing the functions as a shorthand for one or more processors included in the processor 410 performing the functions. This specification may refer to the server 400 performing the functions as a shorthand for one or more appropriate components of the server 400 performing the functions. The processor 410 may include a memory having stored instructions as a supplement and / or alternative to the memory 411. The functionality of the processor 410 is discussed more fully below.

[0087] The transceiver 415 may include a wireless transceiver 440 and / or a wired transceiver 450 configured to communicate with other devices via a wireless connection and a wired connection, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may include a transmitter 442 and a receiver 444 coupled to one or more antennas 446 for transmitting and / or (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) receiving wireless signals 448 and converting the signals from the wireless signals 448 into wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals into wireless signals 448. Thus, the transmitter 442 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 444 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 440 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Zigbee, etc.). The wired transceiver 450 may include a transmitter 452 and a receiver 454 configured for wired communication (e.g., with the network 135) to send communications to and receive communications from the TRP 300, for example. The transmitter 452 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 454 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 450 may be configured for optical communication and / or electrical communication, for example.

[0088] Positioning technology

[0089] For terrestrial positioning of UEs in a cellular network, techniques such as Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) and Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) typically operate in a "UE-assisted" mode, where measurements of reference signals (e.g., PRS, CRS, etc.) transmitted by base stations are obtained by the UE and then provided to a location server. The location server then calculates the positioning of the UE based on these measurements and the known locations of the base stations. Since these techniques use a location server (rather than the UE itself) to calculate the positioning of the UE, these positioning techniques are not frequently used in applications such as automotive or cellular phone navigation, which typically rely on satellite-based positioning instead.

[0090] The UE can use a satellite positioning system (SPS) (Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)) to perform high-accuracy positioning using Precise Point Positioning (PPP) or Real-Time Kinematics (RTK) techniques. These techniques use assistance data, such as measurements from ground-based stations. LTE Release 15 allows the data to be encrypted so that only UEs subscribed to the service can read the information. Such assistance data changes over time. Thus, a UE subscribed to the service may not be able to easily "crack the encryption" for other UEs by passing the data to other UEs that have not paid for the subscription. The passing needs to be repeated each time the assistance data changes.

[0091] In UE-assisted positioning, the UE sends measurements (e.g., TDOA, Angle of Arrival (AoA), etc.) to a positioning server (e.g., LMF / eSMLC). The positioning server has a Base Station Almanac (BSA), which contains multiple "entries" or "records", one record per cell, where each record contains the geographical cell location but may also include other data. Identifiers of the "records" among the multiple "records" in the BSA can be referenced. The BSA and the measurements from the UE can be used to calculate the UE's location.

[0092] In conventional UE-based positioning, the UE calculates its own location, thus avoiding sending measurements to the network (e.g., a location server), which in turn improves latency and scalability. The UE uses relevant BSA record information from the network (e.g., the location of the gNB (more generally, the base station)). The BSA information can be encrypted. However, since the BSA information changes much less frequently than, for example, the PPP or RTK assistance data described earlier, it may be easier (compared to PPP or RTK information) to make the BSA information available to UEs that have not subscribed and paid for the decryption key. The transmission of reference signals by the gNB makes the BSA information potentially accessible to crowdsourcing or drive-by attacks, thus essentially enabling the BSA information to be generated based on in-the-field and / or over-the-top observations.

[0093] Positioning techniques can be characterized and / or evaluated based on one or more criteria, such as positioning determination accuracy and / or latency. Latency is the time elapsed between an event that triggers the determination of positioning-related data and the availability of that data at the positioning system interface (e.g., the interface of the LMF 120). At positioning system initialization, the latency for the availability of positioning-related data is referred to as the time to first fix (TTFF), and is greater than the latency after TTFF. The reciprocal of the time elapsed between the availability of two consecutive positioning-related data is referred to as the update rate, i.e., the rate at which positioning-related data is generated after the first fix. Latency can depend on the processing capabilities (e.g., of the UE). For example, assuming a 272 PRB (physical resource block) allocation, the UE can report its processing capabilities as the duration (in time units, e.g., milliseconds) of DL PRS symbols that the UE can process per T time quantity (e.g., T ms). Other examples of capabilities that can affect latency are the number of TRPs from which the UE can process PRS, the number of PRSs that the UE can process, and the bandwidth of the UE.

[0094] One or more of many different positioning techniques (also referred to as positioning methods) may be used to determine the location of an entity such as one of UEs 105, 106. For example, known positioning determination techniques include RTT, multi-RTT, OTDOA (also referred to as TDOA and including UL-TDOA and DL-TDOA), enhanced cell identification (E-CID), DL-AoD, UL-AoA, etc. RTT uses the time for a signal to travel from one entity to another entity and back to determine the range between the two entities. This range, plus the known location of the first entity among these entities and the angle (e.g., azimuth angle) between the two entities, can be used to determine the location of the second entity among these entities. In multi-RTT (also referred to as multi-cell RTT), multiple ranges from one entity (e.g., UE) to other entities (e.g., TRP) and the known locations of these other entities can be used to determine the location of this one entity. In TDOA technology, the time difference of arrival between one entity and other entities can be used to determine the relative range to these other entities, and those relative ranges combined with the known locations of these other entities can be used to determine the location of this one entity. Angle of arrival and / or angle of departure can be used to assist in determining the location of an entity. For example, the angle of arrival or angle of departure of a signal, combined with the range between devices (a range determined using a signal (e.g., the time of travel of the signal, the received power of the signal, etc.)) and the known location of one of these devices, can be used to determine the location of the other device. The angle of arrival or angle of departure can be an azimuth angle relative to a reference direction such as true north. The angle of arrival or angle of departure can be a zenith angle relative to directly upward from the entity (i.e., radially outward from the center of the earth). E-CID uses the identity of the serving cell, timing advance (i.e., the difference between the reception and transmission times at the UE), the estimated timing and power of detected neighbor cell signals, and possibly the angle of arrival (e.g., the angle of arrival of a signal from a base station at the UE, or vice versa) to determine the location of the UE. In TDOA, the time difference of arrival of signals from different sources at the receiving device, along with the known locations of these sources and the known offset of the transmission times from these sources, is used to determine the location of the receiving device.

[0095] In network - centric RTT estimation, the serving base station instructs the UE to scan / receive RTT measurement signals (e.g., PRS) on the serving cells of two or more neighboring base stations (and typically the serving base station, as at least three base stations are required). The one or more base stations transmit the RTT measurement signals on low - reuse resources (e.g., resources used by the base station to transmit system information) allocated by the network (e.g., a location server such as the LMF 120). The UE records the arrival time (also referred to as the reception time, received time, time received, or time of arrival (ToA)) of each RTT measurement signal relative to the UE's current downlink timing (e.g., as derived by the UE from the DL signals received from its serving base station), and (e.g., when instructed by its serving base station) transmits a common or individual RTT response message (e.g., SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) for positioning, UL - PRS) to the one or more base stations, and the time difference T Rx→Tx (i.e., UE T Rx-Tx or UE Rx-Tx ) is included in the payload of each RTT response message. The RTT response message will include a reference signal from which the base station can infer the ToA of the RTT response. By comparing the difference T Tx→Rx between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal from the base station and the ToA of the RTT response at the base station Rx→Tx with the time difference T

[0096] reported by the UE, the base station can infer the propagation time between the base station and the UE, and from the propagation time, the base station can determine the distance between the UE and the base station by assuming the propagation time period is the speed of light.

[0096] UE - centric RTT estimation is similar to the network - based method, except that: the UE transmits uplink RTT measurement signals (e.g., when instructed by the serving base station), which are received by multiple base stations near the UE. Each involved base station responds with a downlink RTT response message, which may include the time difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal at the base station and the transmission time of the RTT response message from the base station in the RTT response message payload.

[0097] For both network - centric and UE - centric procedures, the side (network or UE) performing the RTT calculation typically (but not always) transmits a first message or signal (e.g., the RTT measurement signal), and the other side responds with one or more RTT response messages or signals, which may include the difference between the ToA of the first message or signal and the transmission time of the RTT response message or signal.

[0098] Multi-RTT techniques can be used to determine location. For example, a first entity (e.g., a UE) can send one or more signals (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast from a base station), and multiple second entities (e.g., other TSPs such as base stations and / or UEs) can receive the signal from the first entity and respond to the received signal. The first entity receives the responses from the multiple second entities. The first entity (or another entity such as an LMF) can use the responses from the second entities to determine the ranges to the second entities, and can use the multiple ranges and the known locations of the second entities to determine the location of the first entity by trilateration.

[0099] In some instances, additional information in the form of an angle of arrival (AoA) or angle of departure (AoD) can be obtained, which defines a straight-line direction (e.g., which can be in a horizontal plane or in three dimensions) or a range of possible directions (e.g., of the UE from the location of the base station). The intersection of two directions can provide another estimate of the UE's location.

[0100] For positioning techniques that use PRS (Positioning Reference Signal) signals (e.g., TDOA and RTT), the PRS signals transmitted by multiple TRPs are measured, and the time of arrival of these signals, the known transmission times, and the known locations of the TRPs are used to determine the ranges from the UE to the TRPs. For example, RSTD (Reference Signal Time Difference) can be determined for the PRS signals received from multiple TRPs, and these RSTDs are used in TDOA techniques to determine the location (position) of the UE. The positioning reference signal can be referred to as PRS or a PRS signal. PRS signals are typically transmitted using the same power, and PRS signals having the same signal characteristics (e.g., the same frequency shift) may interfere with each other, such that the PRS signals from a farther TRP may be overwhelmed by the PRS signals from a nearer TRP, and thus the signals from the farther TRP may not be detected. PRS silencing can be used to help reduce interference by silencing some of the PRS signals (reducing the power of the PRS signals, e.g., reducing it to zero and thus not transmitting the PRS signal). In this way, the UE can more easily detect (at the UE) the weaker PRS signals without the stronger PRS signals interfering with the weaker PRS signals.

[0101] Positioning Reference Signals (PRS) include Downlink PRS (DL PRS) and Uplink PRS (UL PRS) (which may be referred to as SRS (Sounding Reference Signals) for positioning). PRS may include PRS resources or a set of PRS resources in a frequency layer. The DL PRS positioning frequency layer (or simply frequency layer) is a set of DL PRS resource sets from one or more TRPs, which have common parameters configured by the higher layer parameters DL-PRS-PositioningFrequencyLayer (DL-PRS-positioning frequency layer), DL-PRS-ResourceSet (DL-PRS-resource set), and DL-PRS-Resource (DL-PRS-resource). Each frequency layer has a DL PRS subcarrier spacing (SCS) for the DL PRS resource sets and DL PRS resources in that frequency layer. Each frequency layer has a DL PRS cyclic prefix (CP) for the DL PRS resource sets and DL PRS resources in that frequency layer. In 5G, one resource block occupies 12 consecutive subcarriers and a specified number of symbols. Also, the DL PRS point A parameter defines the frequency of the reference resource block (and the lowest subcarrier of the resource block), where the DL PRS resources belonging to the same DL PRS resource set have the same point A, and all DL PRS resource sets belonging to the same frequency layer have the same point A. The frequency layer also has the same DL PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size value (i.e., the frequency of PRS resource elements per symbol, such that for comb N, every Nth resource element is a PRS resource element).

[0102] The TRP can be configured, for example, by instructions received from a server and / or by software in the TRP, to transmit DL PRS according to a schedule. According to this schedule, the TRP can transmit DL PRS intermittently (e.g., periodically at consistent intervals starting from an initial transmission). The TRP can be configured to transmit one or more PRS resource sets. A resource set is a collection of PRS resources across a TRP, where these resources have the same periodicity, a common silent mode configuration (if any), and the same cross-slot repetition factor. Each PRS resource set includes multiple PRS resources, where each PRS resource includes multiple resource elements (REs), and these resource elements can be in multiple resource blocks (RBs) within N (one or more) consecutive symbols in a slot. An RB is a set of REs that spans one or more consecutive symbol numbers in the time domain and a number of consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain (12 for a 5G RB). In an OFDM symbol, a PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs. Each PRS resource is configured with an RE offset, a slot offset, a symbol offset within a slot, and the number of consecutive symbols that the PRS resource can occupy within a slot. The RE offset defines the starting RE offset in frequency of the first symbol within the DL PRS resource. The relative RE offsets of the remaining symbols within the DL PRS resource are defined based on the initial offset. The slot offset is the starting slot of the DL PRS resource relative to the corresponding resource set slot offset. The symbol offset determines the starting symbol of the DL PRS resource within the starting slot. The transmitted REs can be repeated across slots, where each transmission is called a repetition, such that there can be multiple repetitions within a PRS resource. The DL PRS resources in a DL PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP, and each DL PRS resource has a DL PRS resource ID. The DL PRS resource IDs in a DL PRS resource set are associated with a single beam transmitted from a single TRP (although the TRP can transmit one or more beams).

[0103] The PRS resources can also be defined by quasi-co-location and starting PRB parameters. The quasi-co-location (QCL) parameters can define any quasi-co-location information of the DL PRS resources with other reference signals. The DL PRS can be configured to be of QCL type D with respect to DL PRS or SS / PBCH (synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel) blocks from a serving cell or a non-serving cell. The DL PRS can be configured to be of QCL type C with respect to SS / PBCH blocks from a serving cell or a non-serving cell. The starting PRB parameter defines the starting PRB index of the DL PRS resource with respect to a reference point A. The granularity of the starting PRB index is one PRB, and the minimum value can be 0 and the maximum value can be 2176 PRBs.

[0104] A PRS resource set is a collection of PRS resources having the same periodicity, the same silent mode configuration (if any), and the same cross-slot repetition factor. Each time all the repetitions of all the PRS resources in the PRS resource set are configured to be transmitted, it is called an "instance". Thus, an "instance" of a PRS resource set is a specified number of repetitions for each PRS resource and a specified number of PRS resources within the PRS resource set such that once the specified number of repetitions have been transmitted for each of the specified number of PRS resources, the instance is complete. An instance may also be referred to as a "timing occasion". A DL PRS configuration including DL PRS transmission scheduling may be provided to a UE to facilitate the UE measuring the DL PRS (or even enabling the UE to measure the DL PRS).

[0105] Multiple frequency layers of the PRS may be aggregated to provide an effective bandwidth greater than any of the individual layers. Multiple frequency layers belonging to a component carrier (which may be contiguous and / or separate) and meeting criteria such as quasi-co-location (QCL) and having the same antenna port may be spliced to provide a larger effective PRS bandwidth (for both DL PRS and UL PRS), thereby improving the accuracy of arrival time measurements. In the case of QCL, different frequency layers behave similarly, such that splicing of the PRS results in a larger effective bandwidth. The larger effective bandwidth (which may be referred to as the bandwidth of the aggregated PRS or the frequency bandwidth of the aggregated PRS) provides better time domain resolution (e.g., resolution of TDOA). Aggregated PRS includes a collection of PRS resources, and each PRS resource in the aggregated PRS may be referred to as a PRS component, and each PRS component may be transmitted on a different component carrier, frequency band, or frequency layer, or on different parts of the same frequency band.

[0106] RTT positioning is an active positioning technique because RTT uses positioning signals sent from the TRP to the UE and from the UE (participating in RTT positioning) to the TRP. The TRP can send DL-PRS signals received by the UE, and the UE can send SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) signals received by multiple TRPs. The sounding reference signal can be referred to as SRS or SRS signal. In 5G multi-RTT, coordinated positioning can be used, where the UE sends a single UL-SRS for positioning received by multiple TRPs instead of sending a separate UL-SRS for positioning for each TRP. The TRPs participating in multi-RTT typically search for UEs currently resident on that TRP (served UEs, where the TRP is the serving TRP) and also search for UEs resident on adjacent TRPs (neighbor UEs). The neighbor TRP can be a TRP of a single BTS (e.g., gNB), or can be a TRP of one BTS and a TRP of a separate BTS. For RTT positioning (including multi-RTT positioning), in the PRS / SRS positioning signal pair used to determine RTT (and thus to determine the range between the UE and the TRP), the DL-PRS signal and the UL-SRS positioning signal may occur close to each other in time such that the errors caused by UE movement and / or UE clock drift and / or TRP clock drift are within acceptable limits. For example, the signals in the PRS / SRS positioning signal pair can be transmitted from the TRP and the UE respectively within about 10 ms of each other. In the case where the SRS positioning signal is being sent by the UE and the PRS and SRS positioning signals are conveyed close to each other in time, it has been found that it may cause radio frequency (RF) signal congestion (which may lead to excessive noise, etc.) (especially if many UEs are attempting to position concurrently), and / or may cause computational congestion at the TRP that is attempting to concurrently measure many UEs.

[0107] RTT positioning can be UE-based or UE-assisted. In UE-based RTT, the UE 200 determines the RTT and corresponding ranges to each of the TRPs 300, and determines the positioning of the UE 200 based on the ranges to the TRPs 300 and the known positions of the TRPs 300. In UE-assisted RTT, the UE 200 measures the positioning signal and provides measurement information to the TRP 300, and the TRP 300 determines the RTT and range. The TRP 300 provides the range to a location server (e.g., the server 400), and the server determines the position of the UE 200, for example, based on the ranges to different TRPs 300. The RTT and / or range can be determined by the TRP 300 that receives the signal(s) from the UE 200, by the TRP 300 in combination with one or more other devices (e.g., one or more other TRPs 300 and / or the server 400), or by one or more devices other than the TRP 300 that receive the signal(s) from the UE 200.

[0108] Various positioning techniques are supported in 5G NR. The NR native positioning methods supported in 5G NR include DL-only positioning method, UL-only positioning method, and DL+UL positioning method. The downlink-based positioning methods include DL-TDOA and DL-AoD. The uplink-based positioning methods include UL-TDOA and UL-AoA. The positioning methods based on the combined DL+UL include RTT with one base station and RTT with multiple base stations (multi-RTT).

[0109] Referring to Figure 5 , an example wireless communication system 500 for positioning determination based on multi-RTT includes a UE 520 (which may correspond to any UE described herein) and base stations 501, 502, 503. The UE 520 may be configured to calculate a positioning estimate of the UE 520, and / or assist another entity (e.g., a base station or core network component, another UE, a location server, a third-party application, etc.) to calculate a positioning estimate of the UE 520. The UE 520 may be configured to wirelessly communicate with the base stations 501, 502, 503 (which may correspond to any base station described herein) using RF signals and a standardized protocol for modulating RF signals and exchanging information packets.

[0110] To determine the positioning (x, y) of the UE 520, the entity that determines the positioning of the UE 520 may use the positions of the base stations 501-503, which may be represented as (x k , y k ) in a reference coordinate system, where Figure 5In the example, k = 1, 2, 3. When either the base station 502 (e.g., serving base station) or the UE 520 determines the location of the UE 520, the locations of the involved base stations 501, 503 can be provided to the serving base station 502 or the UE 520 by a location server (e.g., LMF 120) with the network geometry. Alternatively, the location server can use the known network geometry to determine the location of the UE 520.

[0111] The UE 520 or the corresponding base stations 501 - 503 can determine the distance d between the UE 520 and the corresponding base stations 501 - 503 k (where k = 1, 2, 3). It is possible to execute the determination of the RTTs 510, 511, 512 of the signals exchanged between the UE 520 and the corresponding one of the base stations 501 - 503, and convert the RTTs into the distance d k . The RTT technique can measure the time between sending a signaling message (e.g., a reference RF signal) and receiving a response. For example, referring to Figure 6 , the gNB 610 can transmit a reference signal (RS) 612 at time t a , and the RS 612 is received by the UE 620 at time t b . The UE 620 can send an RTT response 624 at time t c , and the RTT response 624 is received by the gNB 610 at time t d . The time T is equal to the time difference (t d – t a ) minus the time difference (t c – t b ), corresponding to twice the propagation time between the gNB 610 and the UE 620, and thus the distance between the gNB 610 and the UE 620 can be found by T / 2c, where c is the speed of light. These methods can utilize calibration to remove / reduce processing and / or hardware delays. In some environments, it may be assumed that the processing delays of the UE 520 and the base stations 501 - 503 are the same, but this may not be accurate.

[0112] The UE 520, the base stations 501 - 503, and / or the location server can use the distance d by using various known geometric techniques (such as, for example, trilateration) k to solve for the location (x, y) of the UE 520. It can be seen from Figure 5 that the location of the UE 520 ideally lies at the common intersection of three semi - circles, each semi - circle being defined by a radius d k and a center (x k , y k ), where k = 1, 2, 3.

[0113] Location estimation (e.g., for a UE) may be referred to by other names, such as position estimation, location, positioning, position lock, lock, etc. Location estimation may be geodetic and include coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude), or may be civic and include a street address, postal address, or some other verbal location description. Location estimation may be further defined relative to some other known location or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). Location estimation may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including a region or volume within which the expected position will be included with a certain specified or default confidence).

[0114] Cross-link interference

[0115] Cross-link interference (CLI) is UE-to-UE interference between a transmitting UE and a receiving UE. In a time-division duplex (TDD) system, nearby UEs have different UL-DL (uplink-downlink) slot formats. When the receiving UE (also referred to as the victim UE) receives a transmission from the transmitting UE (also referred to as the aggressor UE) within a UL symbol of the transmitting UE that conflicts with a DL symbol of the receiving UE (i.e., the interfering symbol), this is referred to as CLI. For example, referring to Figure 7 , the uplink transmissions 710, 711 from the transmitting UE overlap with the receiving UE's reception of downlink symbols 720, 721, and interference may occur. CLI is caused by UL transmissions from the transmitting UE, such as PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel), PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel), PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel), or SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) transmissions. The network, e.g., a server (e.g., LMF) and / or a base station (e.g., gNB) may configure CLI resources for interference management. The receiving UE may be configured to measure the signals in the resources that cause CLI without affecting the transmitting UE, e.g., without affecting the UL transmission that causes CLI. For example, the measurement may be SRS-RSRP (i.e., the received power of the SRS), or CLI RSSI (i.e., the strength of the signal that causes CLI). The terms "receiving UE" and "transmitting UE" refer to the signaling with respect to CLI and not a restriction on the UE, e.g., the receiving UE may transmit a signal while the transmitting UE may receive a signal.

[0116] CLI measurements may be used for RTT-based positioning. Since RTT estimation is based on round-trip propagation, the interference should be reciprocal for the two signals involved in the round-trip propagation. However, for example, due to beamforming of one or more UEs involved in CLI, reciprocal interference may not exist.

[0117] Measurement of cross-link interference signal for positioning

[0118] Reference Figure 8 and further reference Figures 1-4 to, the UE 800 (which is an example of the UE 200 shown in Figure 2 ) includes a processor 810, an interface 820, and a memory 830, which are communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 840. The UE 800 may include Figure 8 some or all of the components shown in Figure 2 and may include one or more other components, such as any of the components shown in

[0119] The description herein may only refer to the processor 810 performing functions, but this includes other implementations, such as an implementation where the processor 810 executes software and / or firmware (stored in the memory 830). The description herein may refer to the UE 800 performing functions as a shorthand for one or more appropriate components of the UE 800 (e.g., the processor 810 and the memory 830) performing the function. The processor 810 (possibly in conjunction with the memory 830 and, where appropriate, the interface 820) includes a CLI signal unit 850. The CLI signal unit 850 is optional and may be configured to perform one or more functions to receive and report the reception time of signals that may potentially induce a CLI (e.g., an uplink signal received from another UE during reception of a downlink signal from a node (e.g., a base station or another UE)). Additionally or alternatively, the CLI signal unit 850 may be configured to report the transmission time of signals that may potentially induce a CLI (e.g., an uplink signal transmitted by the UE 800 that may conflict with a downlink signal at another UE). The functionality of the CLI signal unit 850 is further discussed herein.

[0120] Referring to Figure 6 and further referring to Figures 1-4 and Figure 8 the node 900 (which may be an example of the TRP 300 shown in Figure 3 ) Figure 4The example of the server 400 (e.g., LMF), or the example of the UE 800, or a combination thereof, includes a processor 910, an interface 920, and a memory 930 that are communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 940. The node 900 may include Figure 9 some or all of the components shown in Figure 3 , Figure 4 and / or Figure 8 any of the components shown in. The interface 920 may include a transceiver 315 and / or a transceiver 415 (e.g., wired transceivers 350, 450 and / or wireless transceivers 340, 440) and / or one or more components of the interface 820. The memory 930 may be configured similarly to the memory 311 and / or the memory 411 and / or the memory 830, for example, including software having processor-readable instructions configured to cause the processor 910 to perform functions. The interface 920 may communicate via (send and / or receive) cellular signals such that the node 900 is a cellular communication node.

[0121] The description herein may only refer to the processor 910 performing functions, but this includes other implementations, such as an implementation where the processor 910 executes software and / or firmware (stored in the memory 930). The description herein may refer to the node 900 performing functions as a shorthand for one or more appropriate components of the node 900 (e.g., the processor 910 and the memory 930) performing the functions. The processor 910 (possibly in conjunction with the memory 930 and, where appropriate, the interface 920) includes a CLI RTT unit 950. The CLI RTT unit 950 may be configured to perform one or more functions, as further discussed herein, for causing one or more UEs to report signaling time differences and / or for reporting one or more signaling time differences and / or for determining location information (e.g., location estimates) based on signaling time differences.

[0122] Also referring to Figure 10 , the processing and signal flow 1000 for determining location information includes the stages shown. The flow 1000 is an example, and stages may be added, removed, and / or rearranged in the flow 1000. In Figure 10 , some communications are shown with horizontal lines, while other communications are shown with angled lines to indicate propagation time. The horizontal lines do not indicate that the propagation time of the corresponding communications is zero, but are used because the propagation time corresponding to the horizontal lines is irrelevant.

[0123] In stage 1010, the CLI configuration is sent from node 900 to the receiving UE 1002 in the CLI configuration message 1012. The CLI configuration message 1012 can be sent to more than one receiving UE and can be sent using RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling. The receiving UE 1002 is an example of UE 800. The CLI RTT unit 950 can generate and send the CLI configuration message 1012. The CLI configuration message 1012 can include a CLI resource configuration that includes parameters related to an uplink signal to be sent by the target UE 1001 (which is also an example of UE 800), and the receiving UE 1002 can use the parameters to receive and possibly measure the uplink signal sent by the target UE 1001. One or more parameters can also include one or more parameters configured to cause the receiving UE 1002 (e.g., the CLI signal unit 850) to report a receiving-UE time difference that is equal to the amount of time between receiving a signal sent by the target UE 1001 and receiving a reference signal sent by node 900. For example, one or more parameters can indicate that the CLI resource is a CLI resource for positioning. The one or more parameters can cause the receiving UE 1002 to store the reception time of the signal sent by node 900 and store the reception time of the signal sent by the target UE 1001 in order to determine and report the receiving-UE time difference. Additionally or alternatively, the CLI configuration message 1012 can be configured to cause the receiving UE 1002 to enter the CLI positioning operation mode. When in the CLI positioning mode, the receiving UE 1002 will respond to receiving a CLI resource (the resource of a signal that overlaps in time with the downlink signal to the receiving UE 1002 and thus may induce a CLI) by determining and reporting the receiving-UE time difference. The CLI configuration message 1012 can thus dynamically configure the receiving UE 1002 to receive the CLI resource (and possibly measure the CLI resource and appropriately store the reception time of the CLI resource) and report the receiving-UE time difference.

[0124] In stage 1020, node 900 may send CLI configuration message 1014 to target UE 1001. CLI configuration message 1014 may be the same as CLI configuration message 1012 (or at least include the configuration content of CLI configuration message 1012), and target UE 1001 (e.g., CLI signal unit 850) may be configured to instruct receiving UE 1002 to report the receiver-UE time difference by reporting the target-UE time difference and appropriately storing one or more signal times in response to CLI configuration message 1014. The target-UE time difference is the amount of time between receiving a reference signal from node 900 and the transmission of the CLI resource. Additionally or alternatively, CLI configuration message 1014 may be configured to cause target UE 1001 to enter the CLI positioning operation mode. When in the CLI positioning mode, target UE 1001 will respond to the transmission of the CLI resource by determining and reporting the target-UE time difference. CLI configuration message 1014 may thus dynamically configure target UE 1001 to report the target-UE time difference. Additionally or alternatively, CLI configuration message 1014 may include specific instructions for target UE 1001 to report the target-UE time difference. This instruction implicitly instructs target UE 1001 to store the time when it receives the reference signal from node 900. CLI configuration message 1014 may include RRC signaling, DCI (downlink control information) signaling, or MAC-CE (media access control - control element) signaling. Any form of CLI configuration message 1014 may cause target UE 1001 to implicitly or possibly explicitly record (store) the time when it receives the reference signal from node 900 and / or the time when the CLI resource is transmitted, in order to report the target-UE time difference.

[0125] In stage 1030, node 900 sends a reference signal (RS) 1032 to both target UE 1001 and receiving UE 1002. Node 900 (e.g., CLI RTT unit 950) may broadcast RS 1032. Node 900 sends RS 1032 at time t0, and RS 1032 is received by target UE 1001 at time t1 and by receiving UE 1002 at time t2. Although time t2 is shown as after time t1 in Figure 10 the receiving UE 1002 may receive RS 1032 before target UE 1001 receives RS 1032 (i.e., time t2 may be before time t1). For example, if node 900 is a UE, RS 1032 may be a DL-RS or even an SL-RS.

[0126] In stage 1040, the target UE 1001 stores the reception time t1, while the receiving UE 1002 stores the reception time t2. In sub-stage 1042, the target UE 1001, (e.g., the CLI signal unit 850 of the target UE 1001) stores the time t1 corresponding to when the target UE 1001 receives the RS 1032 in response to the CLI configuration message 1014 based on the configuration of the target UE 1001. For example, the CLI signal unit 850 may store the time t1 in response to the CLI configuration content provided with the CLI configuration information 1012, or in response to being in the CLI positioning operation mode and receiving the RS 1032, or in response to being instructed by the CLI configuration information 1014 to report the target-UE time difference. In sub-stage 1044, the receiving UE 1002, (e.g., the CLI signal unit 850 of the receiving UE 1002) stores the time t2 corresponding to when the receiving UE 1002 receives the RS 1032 in response to the CLI configuration message 1012 based on the configuration of the receiving UE 1002. For example, the CLI signal unit 850 may store the time t2 in response to the CLI resource configuration content provided with the CLI configuration message 1012 and receiving the RS 1032, or in response to being in the CLI positioning operation mode and receiving the RS 1032.

[0127] In stage 1050, the target UE 1001 transmits a reference signal at time t3. The CLI signal unit 850 may cause the interface 820 to transmit the reference signal 1052, such as an SRS or other RS. The RS 1052 is received by the receiving UE 1002 at time t4 and by the node 900 at time t5. Although time t5 is shown as after time t4, time t4 may be before time t5, i.e., the receiving UE 1002 may receive the RS 1052 after the node 900 receives the RS 1052. Similar to traditional CLI measurements, the receiving UE 1002 may measure the RS 1032 in stage 1030 and / or measure the RS (e.g., SRS) 1052 in stage 1050. The receiving UE 1002 may receive the RS 1032, 1052 without transmitting an RS from the receiving UE 1002, which may save power for the receiving UE compared to traditional CLI measurement procedures.

[0128] In phase 1060, the target UE 1001 sends a report 1062 indicating the target-UE time difference to node 900, and the receiving UE 1002 sends a report 1064 indicating the receiving-UE time difference to node 900. The target UE 1001 (e.g., the CLI signal unit 850 of the target UE 1001) determines the time difference between receiving the RS 1032 from node 900 and transmitting the RS 1052 (here t3–t1) and reports it to node 900 as the target-UE time difference in report 1062. Similarly, the receiving UE 1002 (e.g., the CLI signal unit 850 of the receiving UE 1002) determines the time difference between receiving the RS 1032 from node 900 and receiving the RS 1052 from the target UE 1001 (here t4–t2) and reports it to node 900 as the receiving-UE time difference in report 1064.

[0129] In phase 1070, node 900 determines the location information of the target UE 1001. For example, node 900 (e.g., the CLI RTT unit 950) can be configured to determine one or more measurements, one or more ranges, and / or a location estimate of the target UE 1001. For example, node 900 can be configured to use the ranges between the target UE 1001 and multiple receiving UEs 1002 and the locations of the receiving UEs 1002 to determine a location estimate of the target UE 1001, e.g., using trilateration. The differential distance Δd can be given as:

[0130] Δd = (Δt rec – Δt target )·c = d n,rec + d target,rec – 2d node,target (1)

[0131] where Δt rec is the receiving-UE time difference (t3–t1), Δt target is the target-UE time difference (t4–t2), c is the speed of light, d n,rec (d 节点,接收方 ) is the distance between node 900 and the receiving UE 1002, d target,rec (d 目标,接收方 ) is the distance between the target UE1001 and the receiving UE 1002; and d node,target (d 节点,目标 ) is the distance between node 900 and the target UE 1001. Rearranging equation (1), the distance d target,rec between the target UE 1001 and the receiving UE 1002 is given by:

[0132] dtarget,rec =(Δt rec –Δt target )·c–d n,rec +2d node,target (2)

[0133] The distance d between node 900 and target UE 1001 node,target can be determined by node 900 based on the RTT estimate between node 900 and target UE 1001. The RTT estimate can be determined by subtracting the target-UE time difference from the time difference between the transmission of RS 1032 at time t0 and the reception of RS 1052 from target UE 1001 by node 900 at time t5. That is, the RTT estimate is equal to (t5 – t0) – (t3 – t1). The distance d between node 900 and receiving UE 1002 n,rec is known (e.g., due to the known positions of node 900 and receiving UE 1002 (e.g., according to SPS-based positioning or according to RAT-based positioning), or according to RAT-based measurements (e.g., RTT, RSRP, RSSI, etc.)). The distance d between target UE 1001 and receiving UE 1002 can be determined for each of the plurality of receiving UEs 1002 target,rec , and these distances (ranges) and the known positions of receiving UEs 1002 are used to determine the position of target UE 1001 using trilateration.

[0134] Also refer to Figure 11, the processing and signal flow 1100 for determining positioning information includes the stages shown. Flow 1100 is an example, and stages can be added, removed, and / or rearranged in flow 1100. Flow 1100 is similar to flow 1000, but in flow 1100, the target UE 1001 collects time differences and determines the positioning information of the target UE 1001. In flow 1100, the CLI configuration message 1112 sent at stage 1110 can be configured such that the receiving UE 1102 reports the receiver-UE time difference to the target UE 1101 instead of reporting the receiver-UE time difference to node 900 or in addition to reporting the receiver-UE time difference to node 900 also reporting the receiver-UE time difference to the target UE 1101. The CLI configuration message 1114 sent at stage 1120 can cause the target UE 1101 to collect time differences for positioning determination. Stages 1130, 1140 can be similar to stages 1030, 1040, where node 900 sends RS 1132, the target UE 1101 stores the reception time t1 in sub-stage 1142, and the receiving UE stores the reception time t2 in sub-stage 1144. Stage 1150 is similar to stage 1050, where the target UE 1101 transmits RS 1152 received by node 900 and the receiving UE 1102. In stage 1160, node 900 sends a report 1162 with the node time difference (t5–t0), which is the amount of time between transmitting RS 1132 from node 900 and receiving RS 1152 from the target UE 1101, and the target UE 1101 can use this time difference to determine the distance d between node 900 and the target UE 1101 node,target . Also in stage 1160, the receiving UE 1102 sends a report 1164 with the receiver-UE time difference. In stage 1170, the target UE 1101 can use Equation (2) to determine the positioning information of the target UE 1101.

[0135] Compared with the conventional technique where a UE measures RS (e.g., PRS) from multiple nodes (such as gNBs) to obtain sufficient measurements for positioning, lower latency can be achieved using flow 1000 or flow 1100. In flows 1000, 1100, the target UEs 1001, 1101 can receive RS from fewer nodes than in the conventional technique. For example, they can receive RS from as few as a single node such as node 900.

[0136] In process 1000 or process 1100, node 900 may send RS 1032, 1132 in response to receiving RS 1052, 1152 from target UEs 1001, 1101 and thus after receiving RS 1052, 1152 from target UEs 1001, 1101. In this case, processes 1000, 1100 may be modified such that node 900 reports the time differences t0–t5 to target UE 1001, and the receiving UE 1002 reports the time differences t2-t4 to target UE 1001. Process 1000 may be further modified such that target UE 1001 reports the time differences t1–t3 to node 900. Process 1100 may be further modified such that target UE 1001 uses the time differences t0–t5 and the time differences t1–t3 to determine the distance between node 900 and target UE 1001.

[0137] Operation

[0138] Referring Figure 12 , and further referring Figures 1-11 , the method 1200 for facilitating location information determination includes the stages shown. However, method 1200 is merely an example and not limiting. Method 1200 may be changed, for example, by adding, removing, rearranging, combining, concurrently executing, and / or splitting a single stage into multiple stages for each of the stages.

[0139] In stage 1210, method 1200 includes: instructing a node, which is a cellular communication node, to send a first cellular reference signal to a target UE (user equipment) and another UE. For example, node 900 (e.g., CLI RTT unit 950) may instruct node 900 to send RS 1032, 1132 to target UEs 1001, 1101 and receiving UEs 1002, 1102 (e.g., by broadcasting RS1032, 1132). For example, server 400 may instruct TRP 300 (or UE) to send RS 1032, 1132 (e.g., by generally instructing TRP 100 to send RS, and TRP 300 determines / schedules to specifically send RS 1031, 1132). As another example, node 900 may be TRP 300 (or UE), and CLI RTT unit 950 may instruct another part of node 900 (e.g., interface 920) to send the first cellular reference signal. The processor 910, possibly in combination with the memory 930, possibly in combination with the interface 920 (e.g., transceivers 315, 415), may include means for instructing the node to send the first cellular reference signal.

[0140] In stage 1220, method 1200 includes: instructing the target UE to report a first time difference to the node, where the first time difference is a first amount of time between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting a second cellular reference signal. For example, node 900 may instruct node 900 to send CLI configuration messages 1014, 1114 to target UEs 1001, 1101.

[0141] Other considerations

[0142] Other examples and implementations fall within the scope of the present disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software and computers, the above functions can be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or any combination thereof executed by a processor. The features implementing the functions can also be physically located in various positions, including being distributed such that parts of the functions are implemented at different physical locations.

[0143] As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" also include the plural forms unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. As used herein, the terms "comprises", "has", "includes", and / or "contains" specify the presence of the stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0144] As used herein, the term RS (reference signal) may refer to one or more reference signals, and may be appropriately applied to any form of the term RS, e.g., PRS, SRS, CSI-RS, etc.

[0145] As used herein, unless otherwise stated, a function or operation being "based on" an item or condition means that the function or operation is based on the stated item or condition and may be based on one or more other items and / or conditions in addition to the stated item or condition.

[0146] Likewise, as used herein, the "or" used in a listing of items that is preceded by "at least one of" or preceded by "one or more of" indicates a disjunctive listing such that, for example, a listing of "at least one of A, B, or C" or a listing of "one or more of A, B, or C" means A or B or C or AB (A and B) or AC (A and C) or BC (B and C) or ABC (i.e., A and B and C), or combinations with more than one feature (e.g., AA, AAB, ABBC, etc.). Thus, a recitation that an item (e.g., a processor) is configured to perform a function with respect to at least one of A or B means that the item can be configured to perform a function with respect to A, or can be configured to perform a function with respect to B, or can be configured to perform a function with respect to A and B. For example, the phrase "a processor is configured to measure at least one of A or B" means that the processor can be configured to measure A (and may or may not be configured to measure B), or can be configured to measure B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or can be configured to measure A and measure B (and can be configured to select which or both of A and B to measure). Similarly, a recitation of an apparatus for measuring at least one of A or B includes: an apparatus for measuring A (which may or may not measure B), or an apparatus for measuring B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or an apparatus for measuring A and B (which may be able to select which or both of A and B to measure). As another example, a recitation that an item (e.g., a processor) is configured to perform at least one of performing function X or performing function Y means that the item can be configured to perform function X, or can be configured to perform function Y, or can be configured to perform function X and perform function Y. For example, the phrase "a processor is configured to measure at least one of measuring X or measuring Y" means that the processor can be configured to measure X (and may or may not be configured to measure Y), or can be configured to measure Y (and may or may not be configured to measure X), or can be configured to measure X and measure Y (and can be configured to select which or both of X and Y to measure).

[0147] Substantial variations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. For example, customized hardware may also be used, and / or specific elements may be implemented in hardware, in software executed by a processor (including portable software such as applets, etc.), or in both. Further, connections to other computing devices (such as network input / output devices) may be employed. Unless otherwise stated, components (functional or otherwise) shown in the figures and / or discussed herein as being interconnected or communicating are communicatively coupled. That is, they can be directly or indirectly connected to effect communication between them.

[0148] The systems and devices discussed above are examples. Various configurations may appropriately omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components. For example, features described with reference to certain configurations may be combined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elements of the configurations may be combined in a similar manner. Additionally, technology evolves, and as a result, many elements are examples and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure or the claims.

[0149] A wireless communication system is a system in which communications are transmitted wirelessly, i.e., by electromagnetic waves and / or acoustic waves propagating through atmospheric space rather than through wires or other physical connections. A wireless communication network may not have all communications transmitted wirelessly but may be configured to have at least some communications transmitted wirelessly. Additionally, the term "wireless communication device" or similar terms do not require that the functionality of the device be exclusively or uniformly primarily for communication or that the device be a mobile device, but rather indicate that the device includes wireless communication capabilities (one-way or two-way), e.g., including at least one radio (each radio being part of a transmitter, receiver, or transceiver) for wireless communication.

[0150] Specific details are given in this specification to provide a thorough understanding of example configurations, including implementations. However, these configurations may be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary detail to avoid obscuring these configurations. This specification provides only example configurations and does not limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claims. Instead, the previous description of the configurations provides a description for implementing the techniques. Various changes may be made to the functionality and arrangement of the elements.

[0151] As used herein, the terms "processor-readable medium", "machine-readable medium", and "computer-readable medium" refer to any medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a particular manner. Using a computing platform, various processor-readable media may be involved in providing instructions / code for execution to (a) processor(s) and / or may be used to store and / or carry such instructions / code (e.g., as a signal). In many implementations, the processor-readable medium is a physical and / or tangible storage medium. Such media may take many forms, including but not limited to non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical disks and / or magnetic disks. Volatile media includes but is not limited to dynamic memory.

[0152] After several example configurations have been described, various modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used. For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system, where other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the present invention. Additionally, several operations may be taken before, during, or after considering the above elements. Accordingly, the above description does not limit the scope of the claims.

[0153] A statement where the value exceeds (or is greater than or higher than) the first threshold is equivalent to a statement where the value meets or exceeds a second threshold that is slightly greater than the first threshold. For example, in the resolution of a computing system, the second threshold is higher than the first threshold by a value. A statement where the value is less than the first threshold (or within or below the first threshold) is equivalent to a statement where the value is less than or equal to a second threshold that is slightly lower than the first threshold. For example, in the resolution of a computing system, the second threshold is lower than the first threshold by a value.

Claims

1. A node for facilitating determination of positioning information, comprising: An interface; A memory; And A processor communicatively coupled to the interface and the memory and configured to: Cause the node to send a first cellular reference signal to a target user equipment (UE) and another UE, the node being a cellular communication node, the cellular communication node including a UE or a base station; Via the interface, instruct the target UE to report a first time difference, the first time difference being a first time amount between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting a second cellular reference signal; And Via the interface, instruct the other UE to report a second time difference, the second time difference being a second time amount between the other UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the other UE receiving the second cellular reference signal in a cross-link interference resource, wherein the first time difference and the second time difference are used to determine the distance between the target UE and the other UE.

2. The node according to claim 1, wherein in order to instruct the other UE to report the second time difference, the processor is configured to instruct the node to send a cross-link interference resource configuration including an instruction for reporting the second time difference to the other UE.

3. The node according to claim 2, wherein in order to instruct the target UE to report the first time difference, the processor is configured to instruct the node to send the cross-link interference resource configuration to the target UE.

4. The node according to claim 1, wherein in order to instruct the target UE to report the first time difference, the processor is configured to instruct the node to send a reporting instruction to the target UE so that the target UE reports the first time difference.

5. The node according to claim 4, wherein the reporting instruction is part of at least one of the following: a downlink control information (DCI) signal, a media access control - control element (MAC-CE) signal, or a radio resource control (RRC) signal.

6. The node according to claim 1, wherein the first cellular reference signal includes one of a downlink reference signal (DL-RS) or a sidelink reference signal (SL-RS).

7. The node according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to use the interface to instruct the target UE to send the second cellular reference signal that overlaps in time with the first cellular reference signal.

8. The node according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: Send the first cellular reference signal via the interface; Receive the second cellular reference signal via the interface; Determine a first distance between the node and the target UE based on the transmission time of the first cellular reference signal from the node, the first reception time of the second cellular reference signal at the node, and the first time difference; Determine a second distance between the node and the other UE; Determine a third distance between the other UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the other UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; and Determine a first position of the target UE based on the third distance between the other UE and the target UE and a second position of the other UE.

9. An apparatus for facilitating determination of positioning information at a node, comprising: means for causing the node to send a first cellular reference signal to a target user equipment (UE) and another UE, where the node is a cellular communication node, and the cellular communication node includes a UE or a base station; means for instructing the target UE to report a first time difference to the node, where the first time difference is a first time amount between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting a second cellular reference signal; and means for instructing the other UE to report a second time difference, where the second time difference is a second time amount between the other UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the other UE receiving the second cellular reference signal in a cross-link interference resource, and the first time difference and the second time difference are used to determine a distance between the target UE and the other UE.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the means for instructing the other UE to report the second time difference includes means for instructing the node to send a cross-link interference resource configuration including an instruction for reporting the second time difference to the other UE.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the means for instructing the target UE to report the first time difference includes means for instructing the node to send the cross-link interference resource configuration to the target UE.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the means for instructing the target UE to report the first time difference includes means for instructing the node to send a reporting instruction to the target UE so that the target UE reports the first time difference.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the reporting instruction is part of at least one of the following: a downlink control information (DCI) signal, a media access control - control element (MAC-CE) signal, or a radio resource control (RRC) signal.

14. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the first cellular reference signal includes one of a downlink reference signal (DL-RS) or a sidelink reference signal (SL-RS).

15. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising means for instructing the target UE to transmit the second cellular reference signal that overlaps in time with the first cellular reference signal.

16. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising: means for transmitting the first cellular reference signal; means for receiving the second cellular reference signal; Apparatus for determining a first distance between the node and the target UE based on the transmission time of a first cellular reference signal from the node, a first reception time of the second cellular reference signal at the node, and the first time difference; Apparatus for determining a second distance between the node and the other UE; Apparatus for determining a third distance between the other UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the other UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; and Apparatus for determining a first position of the target UE based on the third distance between the other UE and the target UE and a second position of the other UE.

17. A method for facilitating determination of positioning information, the method comprising: Causing a node to transmit a first cellular reference signal to a target user equipment UE and another UE, the node being a cellular communication node, the cellular communication node including a UE or a base station; Instructing the target UE to report a first time difference, the first time difference being a first time amount between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting a second cellular reference signal; and Instructing the other UE to report a second time difference, the second time difference being a second time amount between the other UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the other UE receiving the second cellular reference signal in a cross-link interference resource, wherein the first time difference and the second time difference are used to determine a distance between the target UE and the other UE.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein instructing the other UE to report the second time difference includes instructing the node to send a cross-link interference resource configuration including an instruction for reporting the second time difference to the other UE.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein instructing the target UE to report the first time difference includes instructing the node to send the cross-link interference resource configuration to the target UE.

20. The method according to claim 17, wherein instructing the target UE to report the first time difference includes instructing the node to send a reporting instruction to the target UE so that the target UE reports the first time difference.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the reporting instruction is part of at least one of the following: a downlink control information DCI signal, a media access control - control element MAC-CE signal, or a radio resource control RRC signal.

22. The method according to claim 17, wherein the first cellular reference signal includes one of a downlink reference signal DL-RS or a sidelink reference signal SL-RS.

23. The method according to claim 17, further comprising instructing the target UE to transmit the second cellular reference signal overlapping in time with the first cellular reference signal.

24. The method according to claim 17, further comprising: Determine a first distance between the node and the target UE based on a transmission time of the first cellular reference signal from the node, a first reception time of the second cellular reference signal at the node, and the first time difference; Determine a second distance between the node and the other UE; Determine a third distance between the other UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the other UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; And Determine a first position of the target UE based on the third distance between the other UE and the target UE and a second position of the other UE.

25. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium including processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor to perform the following operations for facilitating determination of positioning information: Cause a node, which is a cellular communication node including a UE or a base station, to transmit a first cellular reference signal to a target user equipment UE and another UE; Instruct the target UE to report a first time difference, which is a first time amount between reception of the first cellular reference signal by the target UE and transmission of a second cellular reference signal by the target UE; And Instruct the other UE to report a second time difference, which is a second time amount between reception of the first cellular reference signal by the other UE and reception of the second cellular reference signal by the other UE in a cross-link interference resource, wherein the first time difference and the second time difference are used to determine a distance between the target UE and the other UE.

26. The storage medium according to claim 25, wherein the instructions configured to cause the processor to instruct the other UE to report the second time difference include instructions configured to cause the processor to instruct the node to send a cross-link interference resource configuration including instructions for reporting the second time difference to the other UE.

27. The storage medium according to claim 26, wherein the instructions configured to cause the processor to instruct the target UE to report the first time difference include instructions configured to cause the processor to instruct the node to send the cross-link interference resource configuration to the target UE.

28. The storage medium according to claim 25, wherein the instructions configured to cause the processor to instruct the target UE to report the first time difference include instructions configured to cause the processor to instruct the node to send a reporting instruction to the target UE so that the target UE reports the first time difference.

29. The storage medium according to claim 28, wherein the reporting instruction is part of at least one of the following: a downlink control information DCI signal, a media access control - control element MAC-CE signal, or a radio resource control RRC signal.

30. The storage medium according to claim 25, wherein the first cellular reference signal includes one of a downlink reference signal DL-RS or a sidelink reference signal SL-RS.

31. The storage medium according to claim 25, further comprising instructions configured to cause the processor to instruct the target UE to transmit the second cellular reference signal that overlaps in time with the first cellular reference signal.

32. The storage medium according to claim 25, further comprising instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: Determine a first distance between the node and the target UE based on a transmission time of the first cellular reference signal from the node, a first reception time of the second cellular reference signal at the node, and the first time difference; Determine a second distance between the node and the other UE; Determine a third distance between the other UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the other UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; And Determine a first position of the target UE based on the third distance between the other UE and the target UE and a second position of the other UE.

33. A target user equipment UE, comprising: An interface; A memory; And A processor communicatively coupled to the interface and the memory and configured to: Receive a first cellular reference signal from a node via the interface; Transmit a second cellular reference signal in an inter-link interference resource via the interface; Determine a first time difference, which is a first time amount between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting the second cellular reference signal; Receive a second time difference via the interface, which is a second time amount between another UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the another UE receiving the second cellular reference signal; And Determine a distance between the target UE and the another UE based on the first time difference and the second time difference.

34. The target UE according to claim 33, wherein the processor is configured to: Receive a third time difference via the interface, which is a third time amount between the node transmitting the first cellular reference signal and the node receiving the second cellular reference signal; Determine a first distance between the node and the target UE based on the first time difference and the third time difference; Obtain a second distance between the node and the other UE; Determine a third distance between the other UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the other UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; And Determine a first position of the target UE based on the third distance between the other UE and the target UE and a second position of the other UE.

35. The target UE according to claim 34, wherein the processor is configured to determine the second distance based on the second position of the other UE.

36. The target UE according to claim 33, wherein the second cellular reference signal includes a sidelink reference signal SL-RS.

37. A target user equipment UE, comprising: means for receiving a first cellular reference signal from a node; means for transmitting a second cellular reference signal in a cross-link interference resource; means for determining a first time difference, the first time difference being a first amount of time between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting the second cellular reference signal; means for receiving a second time difference, the second time difference being a second amount of time between another UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the another UE receiving the second cellular reference signal; and means for determining a distance between the target UE and the another UE based on the first time difference and the second time difference.

38. The target UE according to claim 37, further comprising: means for receiving a third time difference, the third time difference being a third amount of time between the node transmitting the first cellular reference signal and the node receiving the second cellular reference signal; means for determining a first distance between the node and the target UE based on the first time difference and the third time difference; means for obtaining a second distance between the node and the another UE; means for determining a third distance between the another UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the another UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; and means for determining a first position of the target UE based on the third distance between the another UE and the target UE and a second position of the another UE.

39. The target UE according to claim 38, further comprising means for determining the second distance based on the second position of the another UE.

40. The target UE according to claim 37, wherein the second cellular reference signal includes a sidelink reference signal SL-RS.

41. A method for facilitating determination of the location of a target user equipment UE, the method: receiving, at the target UE, a first cellular reference signal from a node; transmitting, from the target UE, a second cellular reference signal in a cross-link interference resource; determining, at the target UE, a first time difference, the first time difference being a first amount of time between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting the second cellular reference signal; receiving, at the target UE, a second time difference, the second time difference being a second amount of time between another UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the another UE receiving the second cellular reference signal; and At the target UE, determine a distance between the target UE and the other UE based on the first time difference and the second time difference.

42. The method according to claim 41, further comprising: Receiving, at the target UE, a third time difference, which is a third time amount between the node transmitting the first cellular reference signal and the node receiving the second cellular reference signal; Determining, at the target UE, a first distance between the node and the target UE based on the first time difference and the third time difference; Obtaining, at the target UE, a second distance between the node and the other UE; Determining, at the target UE, a third distance between the other UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the other UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; And Determining, at the target UE, a first position of the target UE based on the third distance between the other UE and the target UE and a second position of the other UE.

43. The method according to claim 42, further comprising determining, at the target UE, the second distance based on the second position of the other UE.

44. The method according to claim 41, wherein the second cellular reference signal includes a sidelink reference signal SL-RS.

45. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium including processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor of a target user equipment UE to perform the following operations to facilitate determining a position of the target UE: Receiving a first cellular reference signal from a node; Transmitting a second cellular reference signal in an interference resource of a cross-link; Determining a first time difference, which is a first time amount between the target UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the target UE transmitting the second cellular reference signal; Receiving a second time difference, which is a second time amount between the other UE receiving the first cellular reference signal and the other UE receiving the second cellular reference signal; And Determining a distance between the target UE and the other UE based on the first time difference and the second time difference.

46. The storage medium according to claim 45, wherein the instructions further include instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: Receiving a third time difference, which is a third time amount between the node transmitting the first cellular reference signal and the node receiving the second cellular reference signal; Determining a first distance between the node and the target UE based on the first time difference and the third time difference; Obtaining a second distance between the node and the other UE; Determining a third distance between the other UE and the target UE based on the first time difference, the second time difference, the second distance between the node and the other UE, and the first distance between the node and the target UE; And Determine the first position of the target UE based on the third distance between the other UE and the target UE and the second position of the other UE.

47. The storage medium according to claim 46, wherein the instructions further include instructions configured to cause the processor to determine the second distance based on the second position of the other UE.

48. The storage medium according to claim 45, wherein the second cellular reference signal includes a sidelink reference signal SL-RS.

Images